Luxor was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

home electronics and computer manufacturer located in

Motala Motala () is a locality and the seat of Motala Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 29,823 inhabitants (41,956 in the entire municipality) in 2010. It is the third largest city of Östergötland, following Linköping and Norrköping. ...

, established in 1923 and acquired by

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

in 1985. The brand name is now owned by Turkish company Vestel and is used for televisions sold in the Swedish market. Originally a manufacturer of

tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...

s, radios,

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

sets,

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

systems, and other home electronics, it launched its first home computer, the ABC 80 in 1978. The succeeding ABC 800 series was introduced in 1981 with new releases in 1983 being produced until the ABC line was terminated in 1986.

History

The company was established in 1923 by Axel Holstensson (full name Axel Harald Holstensson; 1889–1979). He was the son of an ore loader and had no training other than a few years of elementary school. He worked as an electrician and eventually as a travel fitter and foreman at ASEA years from 1907 to 1918. In his spare time, he studied electrical engineering. In 1918, he moved to Motala and started an electronics store and installation company Motala Electric Agency ( sv, Motala Elektriska Byrå). The post-war depression, however, almost led to bankruptcy, the situation was critical and the resort was to start building radios. Components procured from Germany and it was shown to be possible to sell a number of devices at a profit, so Axel Holstensson registered the Luxor Radio Factory Company ( sv, Firma Radiofabriken Luxor) in 1923. The name Luxor was apposite and then very topical as the

Tomb of Tutankhamun The tomb of Tutankhamun, also known by its tomb number, KV62, is the burial place of Tutankhamun (reigned c. 1334–1325 BC), a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb consists of four chambers ...

had just been discovered near the city of

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

in Egypt.

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

company Nokia became a principal owner in the company in 1984. Computer production was discontinued in 1986, followed by television production in Motala in 1992, when the production moved to Finland. Instead, it produced receivers for cable and satellite television. But Nokia wanted to streamline its business to mobile telephony and therefore sold the satellite receiver business in 1998 to American company Space Craft Inc. The company continued to manufacture satellite receivers in Motala until 2002, when it was transferred to low-cost countries. In October 1997, Nokia sold its car speaker and audio amplifier business to Harman International Industries. A collaboration with the then

Electrolux Electrolux AB () is a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool. Electrolux products sell under a variety ...

-owned Autoliv AB led to the company first became a partner for Luxor Electronics since 1998, buying the entire business. In Motala, there still remains manufacturing of various types of electronic products for the automotive industry but not under the Luxor brand. The brand name was later sold to the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

retailer

Elkjøp Elkjøp, better known as Elgiganten outside Norway, is the largest consumer electronics retailer in the Nordic Countries with four hundred stores in six countries and 10,000 employees. Elkjøp was founded by Trygve Fjetland on 16 March 1962. ...

ASA, When British

Dixons Retail Dixons Retail plc was one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in Europe. In the United Kingdom, the company operated Currys, Currys Digital, PC World (with stores increasingly dual branded 'Currys PC World'), Dixons Travel and its s ...

bought Elkjøp in November 1999 they also acquired the Luxor brand. In 2006 Turkish company Vestel acquired the Luxor brand.

References

Defunct companies of Sweden Electronics companies of Sweden Electronics companies established in 1923 Electronics companies disestablished in 2002 Defunct computer hardware companies Swedish companies established in 1923 Swedish companies disestablished in 2002 {{Sweden-company-stub