Lear Corporation Honored by Ford Motor Company With Three World Excellence Awards

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., April 8 -- Lear Corporation received three Ford Motor Company World Excellence Awards recognizing the company as one of its top suppliers in the world for 2002 performance.

The World Excellence Awards provide annual recognition based on quality, cost and delivery performance. Forty-one suppliers from 13 countries won awards in various categories.

Tony Brown, Ford vice president, Global Purchasing, said, "Congratulations to Lear Corporation. You are one of Ford's most valuable partners. Without your extraordinary contributions, we could not have achieved many of our goals in 2002."

Bob Rossiter, Lear chairman and chief executive officer, responded: "The key to our business is quality and service and we appreciate being acknowledged by Ford Motor Company for our accomplishments in these areas. Our philosophy is simple -- we continuously work to improve both the quality of our products and our customer service."

There are three types of World Excellence Awards -- Gold, Silver and Recognition of Achievement. The Gold and Silver Awards are given to suppliers that excel in quality, delivery and cost; 12 suppliers won the Gold Award, and 16 suppliers won the Silver Award. A Recognition of Achievement Award is given to suppliers who impact customer satisfaction by providing significant contributions in key areas. Recognition of Achievement Awards went to 13 suppliers.

Lear received a Silver Award for meeting performance objectives in quality, cost and delivery in the U.S. for electronic modules and sensors and another in the U.K. for seats. In addition, Lear was honored with the Recognition of Achievement for leading Ford initiatives that deliver mutual success in customer satisfaction as a result of Lear's Six Sigma efforts in Germany.

Lear Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Southfield, Mich., USA, focuses on integrating complete automotive interiors, including seat systems, interior trim and electrical systems. With annual net sales of $14.4 billion in 2002, Lear is the world's largest automotive interior systems supplier. The company's world-class products are designed, engineered and manufactured by 115,000 employees in more than 280 facilities located in 33 countries. Additional information about Lear and its products is available on the Internet at www.lear.com .

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