DENSO Supports 125cc Riders of the World Motorcycle Championship

    SOUTHFIELD, Mich., March 26 Japan-based DENSO Corporation
-- parent company of DENSO International America, Southfield, Mich. -- has
entered into support contracts with a racing team and a racer that race in the
125cc class in the FIM2001 Road Racing World Grand Prix (WGP).
    The team DENSO supports is Liegeois Competition motorcycle racing team,
whose members include Masao Azuma and Philipp Hafeneger.  DENSO also supports
Noboru Ueda, who belongs to the F.C.C. TSR racing team.
    By supporting these three competitors in the 125cc class of the world's
most celebrated motorcycle championship, DENSO expects to increase market
awareness of its line of Iridium Power spark plugs.  This exposure is expected
to promote sales of DENSO Iridium Power spark plugs in the international
motorcycle markets.
    Those contracts entail two key aspects: the three riders will use DENSO
Iridium Power spark plugs in the 2001 WGP races; and they will display DENSO's
logo on their motorcycles and cooperate in DENSO's public relations
activities.  The term of the contract is from March 2001 to the end of the
year.
    WGP races will be held on circuits in 13 countries around the world.  The
racing season begins in Suzuka, Japan on April 8 and ends in Brazil in
November.
    The DENSO Iridium Power is the first spark plug in the world to utilize a
center electrode of iridium alloy only 0.4 millimeter in diameter.  DENSO
intends to expand global sales of its spark plugs throughout Europe, North
America, and Asia.
    DENSO has been supporting motor sports for 31 years.
    DENSO Corporation is a global automotive supplier of advanced technology,
systems and components.  DENSO employs 81,000 people in 26 countries and
regions.  Consolidated global sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2000
totaled US$17.8 billion.
    In North America, DENSO employs more than 13,000 people at 21 companies.
North American consolidated sales for 2000 are estimated at $4.1 billion.