Hotpoint

Hotpoint is a brand of domestic appliances. Ownership of the brand is split between Beko Europe (owned by Koç Holdings) which has the rights in Europe, and Chinese company Haier, which has brand rights in the Americas.

History

Pacific Electric Heating Company

The company name Hotpoint comes from the ''hot point'' of the innovative first electric iron. Invented by American, Earl Richardson (''1871–1934'') in 1905, he subsequently formed his Pacific Electric Heating Co. in Ontario, California, in 1906. The device became known as the Hotpoint iron, with its hottest point at the front and not the center.

Hotpoint

Hotpoint was founded in 1911 by Earl Richardson.

Hotpoint Electric Heating Company

In 1912, the company began making electric irons, and in 1919, electric cookers in the United States. Earl Richardson also invented the first iron that switched off automatically when a maximum temperature was reached.

It is claimed to have developed one of the earliest electric toasters in 1908, known as the ''El Tosto'', and later, under GE, the Hotpoint brand name became one of the most popular brands of toasters in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. Richardson founded his settlement, Adelanto, California, in 1915.

Edison Electric Appliance Company

In 1918, the company, known as the Hotpoint Electric Heating Co., merged with the Heating Device Section of General Electric, becoming the Edison Electric Appliance Co.

Hotpoint Electric Appliance Company

In 1920, it established a joint venture with competitor General Electric, forming the Hotpoint Electric Appliance Co. Limited (HEAC) to market GE (USA) branded goods in the United Kingdom.

Edison General Electric Company

In 1927, GE bought the factory and entire company. It became known as the Edison General Electric Co. in 1931.

Most Hotpoint production moved to GE's mammoth Appliance Park manufacturing complex in Louisville, Kentucky in the beginning of the 1950s. To this day, many Hotpoint appliances are made at Louisville, and was the largest appliance plant in the world.

GEC

In 1929, HEAC joined the Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) group, itself bought by The General Electric Company in 1967. By the 1960s it was the market leader in household electrical appliances in the United Kingdom, followed by Sweden's Electrolux.

GDA

Hotpoint continued as a subsidiary of GEC until 1989, when it was merged into a new division of GEC called General Domestic Appliances (GDA). 50% of GDA was purchased by General Electric (USA), with whom it owned the joint venture. In 1998, the Redring and Xpelair brands also joined GDA, and Hotpoint was categorized as part of GDA Applied Energy.

Indesit

GEC was restructured into Marconi plc. from which Indesit Company (''then called Merloni Elettrodomestici'') took over and then Indesit was bought out by Hotpoint on 21 December 2001 for £121m. At this point, Hotpoint employed around 7,000 people at its four sites in the United Kingdom, three of which later closed. Indesit UK has been based at Hotpoint headquarters in Peterborough since 1 June 2003.
In 2005, Merloni Elettrodomestici rebranded to become Indesit Company.

At the beginning of 2007, Indesit launched the group's new brand architecture, Hotpoint, and combined with Ariston to form the Hotpoint-Ariston brand.

In December 2008, Indesit acquired the final quota of shares from General Electric for US$57m. From the end of 2011, Indesit rolled out the Hotpoint brand name across Europe, replacing the names Ariston and Hotpoint Ariston.

Whirlpool

In October 2014, Whirlpool's had a turbulent ownership of Hotpoint and Indesit as in 2015, Indesit released a statement announcing a safety alert for certain models of tumble dryers produced between 2004 and 2015 due to a design flaw which caused large particles of lint to escape the fluff filter into the dryer and build up around the heating element bank which posed a risk of fire. In 2016, Whirlpool began sending out engineers to perform safety modifications to the recalled dryers. In July 2019, Whirlpool finally issued a recall for the appliances, stating that up to 800,000 machines would either be replaced or repaired.

In December 2019, Whirlpool announced a safety recall for certain models of Hotpoint and Indesit washing machines manufactured between 2014 and 2018, due to faulty door interlocks that could cause the machines to catch fire.

Haier

In September 2014, Electrolux agreed to buy General Electric's household appliances business including the Hotpoint brand in North America for £2bn ($3.3bn). The deal was expected to close in 2015. Due to blockage by U.S. regulators, the Electrolux deal was terminated, and GE subsequently sold its appliance division to Haier of China, to close in 2016.

Arcelik

In 2022, Turkish white goods manufacturer Arcelik agreed to buy Whirpool's Russian arm including use of the Hotpoint brand. The deal included Whirlpool's sales operations in Kazakhstan and selected countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In January 2023, Arcelik and Whirlpool agreed to combine their European business with Arcelik owning a 75% share. The new entity will own rights to the Hotpoint brand in Europe.
In February 2024, Britain's antitrust regulator provisionally cleared the deal. This followed approved by EU antitrust regulators in October 2023.

Products

Hotpoint was formed in 1911 in California and entered the British market in 1920. It is well known for its refrigerators and washing machines. The company, including sister brands Creda and Indesit, at one time produced the largest amount of kitchen appliances in the United Kingdom. The headquarters was in Woodston, Peterborough with about 1,500 people based there making fridges and freezers. The refrigeration plant closed in 2008.

Grenfell Tower fire

In June 2017, a Hotpoint FF175BP fridge freezer was found to have triggered the Grenfell Tower fire in London that killed 72 people. A total of 64,000 units of the same model were manufactured between 2006 and 2009 by Indesit under the Hotpoint brand before moving over to Whirlpool.

Customers who believed they own either the FF175BP or the FF175BG models have been advised to contact the company for further safety checks. According to the Hotpoint website: “We have been made aware that the recent fire at Grenfell Tower in West London may have originated in a Hotpoint branded fridge freezer, manufactured between March 2006 and July 2009, model numbers FF175BP (Polar White) and FF175BG (Graphite)".

In October 2018, Whirlpool notified customers that they did not find anything that posed a risk to the customers, and claimed that the London Fire Brigade’s investigation into the cause of the fire had found that some electrical cabling ''behind'' the fridge freezer, or an incorrectly discarded cigarette on the kitchen window may have started the fire. In fact, the investigation found that the fire had been started by a fault with the wiring of the Hotpoint fridge-freezer itself.

Manufacturing sites

The last remaining Hotpoint manufacturing site in operation in the UK, the Yate plant, was closed on 31 December 2024 after 104 years of operation. All appliances are now made in Italy and Poland as well as Turkey as opposed to the United Kingdom. Hotpoint washing machines were formerly manufactured at a plant in Llandudno Junction, in Conwy County Borough, North Wales, United Kingdom. The site made around 800,000 washing machines in 2007, with about 1,000 employees. It is now the North Wales base of the Senedd.

Their refrigeration products, formerly manufactured at the Peterborough factory, now are made in Poland. It has a distribution centre at Raunds.

Site closures

Indesit UK's (former GDA) Creda plant in Blythe Bridge, Stoke-on-Trent closed in December 2007. Closure of the manufacturing facilities at Peterborough followed in the end of 2008. On 31 July 2009, Indesit closed its plant at Kinmel Park, Bodelwyddan Denbighshire, Wales, United Kingdom.

The factory employed 305 workers. The company blamed "continuing decline" in the market.

In October 2024, Beko Europe confirmed that the manufacturing site at Yate, the only one to still be producing tumble dryers in the UK was to cease manufacturing and close on 31 December that same year, after 104 years of operation, this resulted in a total of 142 people being made redundant.

With the closure of this site, it brings an end to Tumble Dryer production in the UK. Beko Europe claimed that the site "had been operating at a loss for some time, despite continued investment." They blamed this on declining sales of tumble dryers in the UK, as well as people moving to using more efficient machines in an effort to reduce running costs.

United States

In the United States, Hotpoint branded products are made by Haier at Louisville, Kentucky.

Marketing

In 2002, it had a 23% share of the white goods market in the United Kingdom. The ''Holby City'' actress Lisa Faulkner starred in their 2010 ''Campaign for Cooking Confidence''.

In 2009, it worked with Kelly Hoppen to produce its interior design ''Hot Style'' campaign. The company has also worked in conjunction with the P&G detergent brand Ariel. It currently recommends Ariel. Before 2004, Hotpoint recommended Unilever brands; Persil & Comfort. In the past it has also recommended Glist dishwasher tablets.

Actress Mary Tyler Moore appeared in a series of 1950s television commercials for the company as a character called "Happy Hotpoint", prior to her fame in television comedy series during the next two decades.

References

External links

Official website (Americas)

Official website (Europe)


Official website (UK)

News items

Closing Peterborough fridge plant in May 2008

Welsh factory in December 2007

Video clips

Hotpoint YouTube channel

Aquarius Ultra Persil advert

{{Home appliance brands

General Electric Company
Haier
Indesit Company
Companies based in Peterborough
Electronics companies established in 1911
Home appliance brands
Home appliance manufacturers of the United Kingdom
1911 establishments in California