Tower Automotive Provides First-Quarter Earnings Guidance--Announces Award of Dodge Dakota Frame Program

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.--March 22, 2002--Tower Automotive, Inc. , in providing guidance on the outlook for its operating results, today announced that it expects its first-quarter results to exceed the current First Call consensus earnings estimate.
    The company expects net income from continuing operations (excluding one time items described below) for the first quarter ending March 31, 2002 to be in the range of $0.22 to $0.24 per diluted share, on estimated first-quarter revenues of approximately $665 million to $675 million. This compares to the current First Call consensus earnings estimate for the first quarter of $0.19 per share.
    This guidance results from improved operating performance driven by increased production efficiencies, reduced launch costs, and initial savings from the company's recent restructuring efforts.
    As previously announced, the company will record approximately $75 million ($1.01 per diluted share after tax) of restructuring charges associated with the closure of its Milwaukee Press Operations facility during the first quarter of 2002. Additionally, the company will realize a $3.8 million gain ($0.05 per diluted share after tax) in the quarter as a result of the sale to a Hyundai affiliate of its Iwahri, Korea plant that assembles the Kia Sportage lower vehicle module. This plant had sales of approximately $139 million in 2001 and operating income of approximately $0.5 million. The company will continue to manufacture body structure components in Korea, including those components used in the Sportage lower vehicle module.
    Tower Automotive also announced that it has been awarded the manufacturing contract for the replacement Dodge Dakota frame program, which will launch in the 2005 model year and is currently expected to generate annual sales to Tower Automotive of approximately $70 million. Production for this program will take place at the Plymouth, Michigan facility where the company assembles the current Dakota frame. The replacement program will utilize significant elements of the capital equipment currently deployed in association with the existing program, and as a result the new program will not require significant incremental capital investment. Including this program, since January 2001, Tower Automotive has been awarded new business representing annual revenues estimated to be approximately $830 million for products to be launched over the next three years. In aggregate, these new business awards are expected to drive a significant portion of the company's organic growth through 2005.
    Tower Automotive, Inc., produces a broad range of assemblies and modules for vehicle structures and suspension systems for the automotive manufacturers, including Ford, DaimlerChrysler, GM, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Fiat, Kia, Hyundai, BMW and Volkswagen. Products include body structural assemblies such as pillars and package trays, control arms, suspension links, engine cradles and full frame assemblies. The company is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
    This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results as a consequence of certain risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to general economic conditions in the markets in which Tower Automotive operates, and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.