Asko Appliances AB is a household-appliance producer, a brand of the Slovenian Gorenje Group, which is a subsidiary of Chinese major appliances manufacturer Hisense. It was founded in Jung in Vara Municipality in Västergötland, Sweden. Manufacturing is in Slovenia. Management and development are in Lidköping, Sweden and the brand uses the tag line "Inspired by Scandinavia." The products are sold in Sweden under the brands Cylinda and Asko. In North America, Asko imports only dishwashers and laundry appliances.
History
The company was established in 1950 by Karl-Erik Andersson, whose first invention was a washing machine. The company started producing a fully automatic front-loading washing machine and a compact dishwasher in 1965, and started exporting their products in 1967. The original name was Junga Verkstäder, but after having been acquired by Asea in 1978, the name was changed to Asea Cylinda, later becoming ABB Cylinda after the merger of Asea with the Swiss Brown Boveri Corporation to form ABB. In 1984, they introduced the washing machines as we know of today: no springs, four shock absorbers and a door that directly connects to the outer drum, the latter being a unique design for domestic front loaders. The top loaders (only sold in Europe) also have four shock absorbers and no springs. The company was acquired by Finnish furniture manufacturer Asko (founded by Aukusti Heikki Asko-Avonius) in 1988. The name was also changed to Asko ASEA. Somewhere around 1992, ASEA was dropped from the name and it became Asko. Asko Appliances was acquired by the Italian