Vizio, the brand name most consumers never heard a year ago, managed to retain its status as the top LCD TV sales leader in North America for the third quarter of 2007, after surprising much of the industry by finishing on top in the previous quarter. The Vizio brand is mainly targeted to club chains such as Costco and Sam’s Club, and big-box stores like Wal-Mart.

While the overall lead for all LCD units (including small screens and computer monitors) went to Sharp in Q3 for the first time in two years, shipments of LCD television units 32-inches and larger again belonged to Vizio. Runner-up in the LCD TV category in Q3 was Samsung, according to a quarterly survey released this week by industry analyst iSuppli.

Vizio accounted for 13 percent of LCD-TV unit shipments in the third quarter, barely squeezing out Samsung’s 12.8 percent. Sharp came in third in the TV category with 12 percent; Sony had 10.1 percent, followed by Polaroid with 9.1 percent in the fifth spot.