New County Firm to Sell Panasonic Products in West : Marketing: Matsushita creates a subsidiary to oversee operations in 13 states. It provides 300 jobs in Cypress.

Matsushita Electric Corp. of America, which manufactures under the Panasonic, Technics and Quasar labels, has created a new subsidiary in Orange County to market its Panasonic products in the western United States.

The subsidiary, Panasonic Co. (West) of America, will oversee the company’s consumer electronics marketing in 13 states, including Hawaii and Alaska.

Previously, the western region was managed from the company’s U.S. corporate headquarters in Secaucus, N.J. The new unit has 375 employees, 300 of them based in Cypress.

The move, which gives more autonomy to the company’s Cypress division, is part of Panasonic’s plan to expand its operations in the western states, a Matsushita spokesman said. He added that Panasonic Co. (West) hopes to employ more people in the months ahead but did not specify the number of new jobs expected.

“This plan was formulated before the recession started last year,” spokesman Justin Camerlengo said Wednesday. “We’re positioning ourselves for growth in the 1990s.”

Toshinobu Saito was appointed president of the new subsidiary and reports to Richard Kraft, president of Matsushita’s U.S. operations. Most recently, Saito was general manager in charge of the consumer electronics division of its parent, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. in Osaka.

Kunio (Kirk) Nakamura remains president of Panasonic Co. and will oversee marketing efforts in the Midwestern and Southern states and on the East Coast.

Matsushita is considered the world’s largest consumer electronics manufacturer. In January it acquired MCA Inc., the owner of Universal Studios, for $6.59 billion, which was the largest Japanese takeover of a U.S. company to date.