ESP and Toyota Tsusho Create Landmark Alliance To Establish Remote Sensing Vehicle Emissions Testing In Japan

    EAST GRANBY, Conn.--April 3, 2002--In an agreement that will have an impact on the emissions testing industry, Environmental Systems Products Holdings Inc. (ESP), today announced a strategic alliance with Toyota Tsusho Corporation, a trading company within the Toyota Group Companies, to introduce its patented remote sensing technology and emissions testing services to the Japanese market.
    Under the terms of the alliance, ESP and Toyota Tsusho will establish a new company to enhance Inspection/Maintenance (I/M) programs throughout Asia by integrating ESP's remote sensing screening technologies with currently used testing methods. Last month, ESP and Toyota Tsusho jointly demonstrated AccuScan(TM), ESP's remote sensing technology to potential customers. The alliance also intends to introduce loaded mode emissions testing technology. Using this technology vehicles are tested on a dynamometer simulating actual driving conditions and providing a more accurate evaluation of emissions. ESP is the worldwide market leader in providing such technologies, with over 50% market share in the United States.
    "We are delighted to be partnering with the world's leading provider of emissions testing technology," said Mr. Watanabe, director of Toyota Tsusho Corporation. "The relationship with ESP will significantly enhance our ability to serve markets across Asia and elsewhere with clean air technology. Our collective efforts will provide a fresh approach including opportunities for environmental traffic management systems which integrate ESP's advanced technologies with the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) technologies currently promoted in Japan."
    ESP's president and CEO Mike Chambrello added, "Our strategic alliance with Toyota Tsusho sets a new benchmark for the emissions testing industry by coupling our proven emissions testing technology with the Toyota Group's international leadership in servicing the transport industry. We are honored to work in Japan, a huge automotive industrial market, to introduce our remote sensing technology, which has proven to be a cost-efficient, effective approach for maximizing air quality benefits and customer convenience in the U.S., and increasingly in other countries around the globe."
    The ESP/Toyota Tsusho alliance will focus on the Japanese market initially, with expansion to other Asia jurisdictions in the near future. Japan has a vehicle population of some 80 million vehicles, and like the U.S., is concerned with air pollution caused by vehicles that adversely affect public health. Japan has been a leader in I/M program innovations and its present I/M program involves over 20,000 certified inspection and repair facilities.

    About AccuScan(TM) Remote Sensing Technology

    In 1991, ESP developed patented remote sensing technology that detects emissions from cars as they drive through an infrared beam of light set up across a roadway. ESP has implemented remote sensing programs in 15 states and in locations across Asia, Europe, Latin America and Canada. With its patented AccuScan(TM) remote sensing technology, ESP provides governments a technologically driven program that creates administrative efficiencies while also increasing test effectiveness and motorist convenience.
    ESP's AccuScan(TM) technology simply and unobtrusively measures exhaust emissions from vehicles as they are being driven on streets and highways. Unlike most equipment used to evaluate vehicle emissions today, remote sensing devices do not come in contact with the vehicle. Instead, a beam is projected across a roadway and the remote sensing device measures the pollutants in the vehicle's exhaust. The US EPA has pointed to remote sensing as an efficient tool to identify both clean cars and excessive polluters and to monitor the overall vehicle fleet emissions. In addition, the ability to move remote sensing devices easily from location to location helps to ensure effective vehicle monitoring and substantial data collection regarding air emissions.
    The capability of AccuScan(TM) to identity very clean (clean screen) or very dirty (gross emitter) vehicles has been field proven throughout the U.S. and abroad. AccuScan(TM) is capable of measuring over 3,000 vehicles per hour on a continuous basis. The technology measures concentrations of major air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide in the exhaust plume of passing vehicles based on their absorption of infrared light. It is also capable of measuring truck, bus and passenger-car diesel smoke/opacity levels, as well as motorcycle emissions.

    About Toyota Tsusho Corporation

    Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) is a trading company within the Toyota Motor Corporation Group in Japan, with over $15 billion (US) in annual net sales. TTC has been a leader in providing Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in Japan and Asia, to help promote safer vehicle operation, reduce congestion and improve air quality. Additionally, TTC provides electronic toll collection systems in Asia, and is increasingly focused on environmental protection and vehicle pollution mitigation technologies. Toyota Tsusho is based in Nagoya and Tokyo, Japan, with a network in 57 countries, four branch offices and 77 subsidiaries. TTC operates through 17 offices in Japan and more than 90 international subsidiaries and affiliates. The alliance will also include Wellstone Corporation, a Japan company with extensive Inspection/Maintenance (I/M) expertise also with offices in the United States.

    About Environmental Systems Products Holdings Inc. (ESP)

    ESP, headquartered in East Granby, Connecticut, is a full service provider of vehicle emissions testing solutions to domestic and international markets. ESP provides the most comprehensive emissions testing products and services in the industry. In addition to remote sensing initiatives the company implements and manages centralized emissions testing programs, markets decentralized test and repair equipment and provides independent data management for U.S. and international programs. Since the company's founding over 25 years ago, ESP has conducted more than 141 million tests to help make the air cleaner across the world.

    The company currently operates centralized emissions testing programs in 11 states the province of British Columbia. ESP also manufactures a full range of decentralized emissions testing equipment with an installation base of over 11,000 units in North America. ESP provides or has provided equipment, technology and services to Australia, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Taiwan. Over 100 professionals are wholly dedicated to research and development at ESP's R&D facility - the Tucson Technology Center located in Arizona. The Tucson Technology Center focuses on the development and application of new technologies to meet evolving customer expectations and program goals. ESP licenses or holds close to 100 patents related to emissions testing technology in the U.S. and abroad.