Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., best known for its Panasonic brand, will change its company name to Panasonic Corporation effective October 1, 2008. The company will also unify its corporate brands to the 'Panasonic' brand across the world.

The name change, which was approved by the company's board of directors, will be submitted for and subject to approval at a general meeting of shareholders to be held in June.

Upon a company name change, the company will undertake its brand name change from the 'National' brand, which is used for home appliances and housing equipment in Japan, to the 'Panasonic' brand by March 31, 2010. Subsequently, the 'National' brand will be abandoned and the corporate brands in Japan will be unified to the 'Panasonic' Brand.

The company has been using a company name Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. since 1935, following its earlier names Matsushita Electric Manufacturing Works since 1929 and Matsushita Electric Housewares Manufacturing Works since 1918 when it was first established. While the company was using National and Panasonic brand names over the period, it decided in 2003 to unify a global brand into Panasonic with a brand slogan "Panasonic ideas for life."

The timing to change the company name and unify its global brand coincides with its 90th anniversary this year. At the same time, some group companies which currently use Matsushita or National in their names will also change their company names using Panasonic. Together with the brand unification in Japan, the company will lead all its resources and activities to enhancing the value of Panasonic brand.

The new Panasonic Corporation and its group companies worldwide will continue to run its business based on its founder Konosuke Matsushita's business philosophy known as; 'A company is a public entity,' 'Customer-comes-first principle' and 'Start fresh everyday.'

The company is currently operating its business under the GP3 mid-term management plan, which sets a direction toward making 'Global Excellence' of its corporate performance with three pillars, namely 'Global Progress,' 'Global Profit' and 'Global Panasonic.'

The company name change and brand unification is a bold step forward to make the company a truly global corporation, in which its corporate value can be enhanced with united efforts by all the employees focused on the 'Panasonic' brand worldwide.