Record number of visitors at LivingKitchen/Markus Miele: Sales continue to grow

At the Cologne LivingKitchen trade show due to open its doors to consumers tomorrow, the new Miele M Touch user interface has been causing heads to turn. M Touch stands for a high-resolution touch display similar to that on smart phones and tablet PCs.

This world-exclusive user interface for kitchen appliances is an integral part of flagship models of the new Generation 6000 from Miele, now celebrating its world premiere at LivingKitchen 2013. ‘The most comprehensive and ambitious development project and market launch in the history of the company’ is how Christian Gerwens, head of Miele’s German subsidiary, explains Generation 6000.

This is reflected in the reception Miele has received in Hall 4.1: ‘The visitor count has far exceeded our own high expectations‘, says Miele manager Gerwens. ‘On the first three days of the fair alone we registered almost 9000 specialist dealers.’ This was more than at the entire previous show and LivingKitchen still has only just reached half-time.

With the launch of Generation 6000 due to appear in stores in May, the Gütersloh domestic appliance pioneer is completely renewing its range of built-in kitchen appliances: from ovens to steam cookers, coffee machines and microwave ovens through to matching cooker hoods. Appliances will be available in two completely new design lines and four colour schemes and boast numerous technical USPs for even more convenience, pleasure and high-quality results.

One particular feature from the new Miele range to draw the crowds was the elegant and intuitive M Touch user interface. Here, the user navigates through the menu by finger-tip swiping and scrolling. Selection options appear on a brilliant high-resolution screen. Alongside intuitive navigation, M Touch offers further special features including a search function for locating automatic programmes.

At a trade show press conference, the Managing Director and Co-Proprietor Dr Markus Miele provided an initial forecast for the current 2012/13 business year, due to end on June 30, 2013. Presuming that there is no ‘sudden and abrupt breakdown in the world economy’, Miele plans to grow in the order of a mid-range single-digit figure. Miele: ‘We are still growing above-average with high-end built-in kitchen appliances which are the subject of this trade show’.

All press releases and photographs relating to the Generation 6000 as well as a 10-minute summary of the LivingKitchen press conference are available for download via the following link:

http://www.miele-presse.de/de/presse/news.html

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Company profile: Miele is the world leader in the field of premium domestic appliances including cooking, baking and steam-cooking appliances, refrigeration products, coffee makers, dishwashers and laundry and floorcare products. This line-up is augmented by dishwashers, washer-extractors and tumble dryers for commercial use as well as washer-disinfectors and sterilisers for use in medical and laboratory applications (Miele Professional). The company, founded in 1899, has 8 production plants in Germany and one plant each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China and Romania. 2011/12 turnover amounted to approx. EUR 3.04 bn with sales outside Germany accounting for 70%. Miele is represented with its own sales subsidiaries and via importers in almost 100 countries. The Miele company, now in the fourth generation of family ownership, employs a workforce of around 16,700 with two-thirds in Germany. The company headquarters are located in Gütersloh/Westphalia, Germany.