Matsushita launches 42-inch Full HD Plasma TV

The 42-inch TVs from Matsushita are expected to sell for 410,000 yen to 430,000 yen ($3,449-$3,617), the Osaka-based company said. It plans to manufacture 25,000 units of them a month for the domestic market. The Japan launch will soon be followed by overseas debuts.

Matsushita's plasma TV sales came to an equivalent of about 4 million 42-inch models in the year ended March 31, and the company aims to boost those sales by 50 percent to 6 million units in the current business year, a company spokesman said.

Matsushita, which controls one-third of the global plasma TV market according to DisplaySearch, plans to bring its $1.5 billion plasma display plant onstream by summer 2007 to take on the LCD camp.