Titan Off Road Wheels and Tires to Be Available Through Any CNH Dealer

QUINCY, Ill., Nov. 30 -- As a result of the participation of Titan Tire Corporation, a subsidiary of Titan International, Inc. , in the 2001 CNH Dealer Business Meeting and Trade Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, CNH announced that the complete line of Titan wheels and tires will be made available in the aftermarket through thousands of North American Case, Case IH, and New Holland dealers. CNH, the second largest North American company in farm equipment sales, also holds a top ranking position in the sale of certain light construction, backhoe and skid steer equipment.

Conversations with various dealers from throughout North America reflect the feeling that the farm economy is recovering and that 2002 should be a good year. Titan's growth goal is to gain greater market share by enlisting equipment dealers to offer the Titan product line, which is centered on agricultural and construction equipment. Attaining this goal could mean an additional $100 million of business for Titan over the next few years.

Approaching equipment dealers to explore the benefits of partnership was a natural extension of Titan's innovative business approach. The CNH event was an excellent opportunity to discuss this program with agricultural and construction dealers and their responses were overwhelmingly positive. The majority of dealers surveyed also indicated an interest in selling tires branded with the Case IH or New Holland name. Titan has been private branding aftermarket construction tires for Caterpillar and other OEMs.

Working through the CNH corporate parts team, Case IH and New Holland equipment dealers will be able to sell Titan wheels and tires directly, thereby expanding their product offering, customer service opportunities and profit potential for parts. This is Titan's first venture into selling directly to equipment dealers and plans are under way to establish similar programs with other equipment dealers. Ultimately, the intent is to generate demand for private brand tires in the aftermarket, while utilizing traditional tire dealers to distribute the Titan brand.

``Titan's tire facilities in North America have the ability to meet the potential additional demand from this new aftermarket program,'' stated Maurice Taylor Jr., Titan president and CEO. ``Titan is the only manufacturer of complete wheel and tire assemblies in the agricultural and construction markets. This allows Titan to direct the design of new tires, benefiting the end-users and increasing replacement business for equipment dealers, while giving Titan an advantage over our competitors. The equipment dealer's enthusiasm for aftermarket tire sales proves that Titan's creative energy focused on our niche markets will help us grow our company.''

Titan is a global supplier of mounted wheel and tire systems for off- highway equipment used in agriculture, earthmoving/construction, consumer and military applications. Titan has manufacturing and distribution facilities worldwide.

SOURCE: Titan International, Inc.