Electrolux Takes Aim at Whirlpool

Asked how he'll win back the global appliance crown Electrolux lost five years ago, new Chief Executive Officer Keith R. McLoughlin says he has a secret weapon: the growing ranks of middle-class moms. "Let's say you're a mom in Brazil and you've got tough stains on your kid's soccer uniform," McLoughlin explains as he grabs a small electronic wand from atop a washing machine at his company's Stockholm headquarters. "You use this thing ultrasonically that blasts the molecules [of the stain], then you throw the clothes into the washer. They come out perfectly clean."

The $1,080 washer with the ultrasound dirt blaster, introduced in Brazil last year, is the latest addition to Electrolux's arsenal to take on archrival Whirlpool (WHR), which bought Maytag in 2006. That deal made Whirlpool the world's biggest home appliance maker.