BEHR AMERICA PREPARES FOR MOVE TO TROY

BEHR AMERICA PREPARES FOR MOVE TO TROY New Headquarters and Wind Tunnel Will See Future Openings

DETROIT, MI., MARHC 5, 2001-- With spring around the corner, Behr America will begin the construction phase of its new corporate headquarters and technical center on an 8.5 acre-site near I-75 and Rochester Road in Troy, MI. A new wind tunnel also is in the works.

The 80,000 square-foot corporate headquarters complex will be completed by late fall this year. It is part of a more than $120-million expansion of Behr’s North American operations, which includes a move of its headquarters in Charleston, SC, to the Detroit area.

Hans Lange, Behr America President and Behr Group Board member, says that “the increased presence in the Detroit area represents Behr’s commitment to be closer to its growing North American customer base and supports its “one-face to-the-customer philosophy, for consistency in all aspects of our quality and services.” Behr America is a global supplier of climate control, engine cooling and thermal management products for automotive, commercial and off-highway vehicle markets.

“We’re making this investment to sustain and develop our business relationships with our North American-based customers,” says Lange. “We want to demonstrate we have a technical competence and capacity in place to support them.”

Behr hopes to expand its North American presence and double its current market size in four years, he said. “ Our plan is to more than double our sales from more than $240-million last year to about $500-million by 2005,” Lange says.

As part of the new Troy complex, Behr will also build a next-generation wind tunnel that simulates precise climactic conditions to test climate control and engine cooling systems under all weather extremes, from below 30 degrees centigrade to above 50 degrees centigrade. The wind tunnel construction begins at the same time as the tech center, but its completion will not coincide with the completion of the corporate headquarters, according to Behr executives.

At this years SAE, Behr is showing the latest system developments in fan clutch technology and space saving aluminum radiator design, including an electronically control Visco fan clutch system which operates the main cooling fan at different speeds with the same input speed from the engine.

The Visco fan clutch is introduced in the United States for the first time. It’s produced at Behr’s new plant in Webberville, Michigan. # # #