Mitsubishi Electric Australia is celebrating its 50th anniversary and five decades of supplying quality products known for their longevity and reliability.

Today, Mitsubishi Electric Australia continues to serve the Australian market with products and solutions ranging from cooling, heating and air treatment systems to home appliances, transportation and heavy engineering, power, automotive and automation systems.  

The last decade has seen a strong expansion of the air conditioning business, delivery of the Mariyung Fleet for the NSW rail network as part of the RailConnect joint venture and the signing of a Collaboration Agreement with the Defence Science and Technology Group – the first time a Japanese private company has signed a defence contract directly with an overseas government.

Mitsubishi Electric started business in Australia by supplying electrical equipment for Sydney’s first double-deck train motor cars, providing generators to the Tumut 3 Power Station for the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, and, together with AWA introduced consumer electrical products, including colour televisions and audio systems.  

As the business grew during the mid-1980s, it quickly diversified into refrigerators and air conditioners. A factory for cellular mobile phones was established at Rydalmere in Sydney. In 1990, another factory was built to manufacture equipment for the Tangara train sets, one of the largest train contracts in the world at that time. 

The power business expanded in the late 1990s with the introduction of High Voltage Circuit Breakers in the Australian market. A few years later, in 2003, the Optus C1 satellite was launched and the company was awarded the contract to supply electrical equipment for the OSCar train sets to UGL for the Sydney intercity train network. 

Mitsubishi Electric Australia managing director, Jeremy Needham said, “As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, I would like to acknowledge the significant contributions of our staff, past and present, for their contribution to the success of the Mitsubishi Electric business in Australia, to our distributors, many of whom have been valued partners for decades and to the customers who have chosen to purchase a Mitsubishi Electric product over the years.

“We are proud of our legacy of innovation and excellence, and we remain committed to continuing this journey, contributing to a vibrant and sustainable society for generations to come.”