"In my view, it is a sign of things to come," Broadhurst said.
Daniel Witten-Hannah, F&P Appliances' executive vice-president of product development and marketing, said the company had developed a "game-changer" in cooking appliances - a 60cm oven that has up to 30 per cent more capacity inside than competing models of the same size.
F&P's designers pulled the 60cm standard oven apart and reconstructed it to have 77 litres of usable capacity, he said. The oven, which uses new venting technology, is no bigger externally than other models on the market, meaning no kitchen modifications are required, Witten-Hannah said.
Of the 70 products, about half were completely new, with the balance being upgrades to existing models.
In the past F&P Appliances has used competitors' front-loading washing machines and branded them as F&P machines - "a compromise that we have always regretted," Broadhurst said.
The new front loader borrows heavily from successful "SmartDrive" technology that has been a winner for the company's top-loading machines for many years.
The front-loaders will allow users to put larger loads through wash cycles shorter than 60 minutes.
F&P Appliances became a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese home goods giant Haier last year when it went from holding 20 per cent to 100 per cent, paying $1.28 a share.
The change to Chinese ownership had not done F&P's market share any harm, Broadhurst said. The company remained the preferred brand in New Zealand "by a significant margin" and had long been the No 2 player in Australia, after Electrolux.
In recent years, F&P Appliances has axed hundreds of jobs as it shifted manufacturing to factories in Thailand and Mexico. The company has retained a plant in Auckland.
F&P Appliances said in February that it was looking to expand its New Zealand-based research and development capabilities through taking on 100 new staff in Dunedin and Auckland over the next two years. Broadhurst said recruitment was "progressing successfully". APNZ
