History of Panasonic National

In 1918 Matsushita Electric Housewares Manufacturing Works was established by Konosuke Matsushita, who was 23 years old at the time. In 1923, Konosuke Matsushita developed a breakthrough shell lamp for bicycles.

In 1927, Matsushita adopted the brand name "National" for a new lamp product. In 1955, the company began branding audio speakers and lamps for markets outside Japan as "PanaSonic", which was the first time it used the "Panasonic" brand name.

In 1935 Matsushita Electric Trading Co., Ltd. was established. The company was incorporated as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd in the same year and began expanding rapidly into a number of varied electrical product lines. During the 1930s it added such electrical devices as irons, radios, phonographs, and light bulbs.

In 1959 Matsushita establishes Matsushita Electric Corporation of America (MECA), the first post-war overseas sales company.

On October 1, 2008, the year marking its 90th anniversary, the company changed its name from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. to Panasonic Corporation and corporate brand unified worldwide as Panasonic

Simultaneously, the brand name used for domestic white goods and housing equipment was sequentially switched from "National" to "Panasonic."
History of Panasonic National