John Lauer Joins Akebono North America as Vice President Of Sales, Marketing and Business Planning

    FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Jan. 20 Akebono Corporation,
North America's leading supplier of advanced automotive friction materials and
components, today announced the appointment of John Lauer as Vice President of
Sales, Marketing and Business Planning, effective immediately.
    In this position, Mr. Lauer is responsible for all North American OEM
sales and marketing activities involving domestic and new-domestic OEMs and
Tier I suppliers, as well as the organization's non-automotive customers.  He
also is in charge of business planning activities, including product
advertising, brand management and commercial long-range planning.
    Mr. Lauer, a 25-year veteran of the automotive industry, was most recently
a Partner at Global Business Associates, a private executive management and
business consulting enterprise headquartered in Metro Detroit.  Prior to this
position, he worked several years for Borg-Warner Automotive in various Vice
President roles in charge of business development, corporate strategy, and
sales & marketing.  Earlier in his career, Mr. Lauer spent three years with
Coltec Industries, where he was responsible for the sales and marketing
activities of three business units.  He also worked for 17 years at Holley
Automotive in a number of supervisory positions.  Mr. Lauer has a B.A. Degree
in Business Management from Defiance College.
    "We are very excited to welcome John into the Akebono family," said Kevin
J. Alder, Akebono's President and COO.  "He brings years of experience in the
industrial and automotive parts manufacturing industry, and his leadership
will help guide Akebono North America toward continued success well into the
future."
    Akebono Brake Industries, Co. Ltd., founded in 1929 and headquartered in
Tokyo, is a world leader in advanced brake and friction material development
and production, with a focus on noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) analysis
and control.  Akebono Corporation North America supports customers in the
United States, Canada and Mexico.  Akebono's products are consistently found
on the majority of top-rated vehicles in J.D. Power's annual brake and
handling quality report.
    The company operates technical/R&D centers in Japan, the United States and
France, with 30 wholly owned or affiliated manufacturing facilities worldwide.
Akebono launched U.S. brake sales and production operations in 1980.
Worldwide, Akebono employs a total of 6,800 people; 1,900 in North America.
In 2001, Akebono's worldwide sales totaled $1.2 billion.  North American sales
totaled $250 million, plus $300 million through unconsolidated joint ventures.