The story
Founded by Vehbi Koç in 1955.1
Source:
Arçelik A.Ş. was founded in 1955 by Lütfü Doruk in partnership with Vehbi Koç operating in the Turkish home appliances industry. Arçelik produced its first washing machine in 1959 and its first refrigerator in 1960 at its manufacturing plant in Çayırova, Istanbul.
In 1986, Arçelik A.Ş. went public on Borsa Istanbul.
In 1999, Arçelik and LG Electronics founded the joint-venture Arçelik-LG Klima Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. for manufacturing air conditioning units for the Turkish and global markets.
In 2006, Koç Holding decided to merge their subsidiaries in the home appliances industry under the roof of Arçelik A.Ş. These companies included the Atılım ve Gelişim Pazarlama A.Ş. which marketed Arçelik branded products, Beko Elektronik A.Ş. which marketed Beko branded products and Türk Elektrik Endüstrisi A.Ş. which produced engines and compressors for Arçelik and Beko branded products. The new organization model enabled the company to manage production and sales/marketing activities centrally and to increase productivity.
Arçelik A.Ş. made a series of acquisitions to grow its global presence: Blomberg (2002), Elektra Bregenz (2002), Leisure (2002), Flavel (2002), Arctic (2002), Grundig (2007), Defy (2011), Dawlance (2017), Singer (2019). It also partnered with other multinationals to form alliances: Tata Group in India, Hitachi in several Asia-Pacific markets and Whirlpool Corporation in several European markets.
From Wikipedia’s article on Arçelik, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5