INTERMET Announces Plans for New Foundry in Mexico

TROY, Mich., Sept. 15 -- In an effort to better serve its global customer base, INTERMET Corporation , one of the world's leading manufacturers of cast-metal automotive components, today announced that it plans to build and operate a ductile iron foundry in Mexico. This new plant will be located in the Monterrey area and will be dedicated to the production of automotive structural and safety components such as steering knuckles, control arms, and brake calipers and brackets, as well as other highly engineered ductile-iron parts.

Construction of the 100,000-square-foot greenfield plant is expected to begin before the end of the year and be operational by mid-2004. Plans call for two casting lines featuring vertical, flaskless molding, along with medium-frequency induction furnace melting, a complete coldbox coremaking operation, and highly automated casting finishing and validation. At full production, annual revenue for the plant is expected to reach approximately $40 million, with the potential for expansion in either ductile iron or INTERMET's Blue Sand(TM) aluminum casting process, which also is focused on structural components.

"The location of a casting operation in Mexico represents a critical step in INTERMET's global expansion plan," said Gary F. Ruff, INTERMET's President and CEO. "This state-of-the-science facility also fits well into our LASIK Vision strategy since it will utilize existing assets to minimize the cost and time for production startup. In addition, we believe the new foundry will fill a demand in the Mexican cast-metal industry for safety-critical components supported by the full-service capabilities of INTERMET in research, development, engineering and design."

INTERMET currently manufactures components for most of the world's leading automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, and this new Mexican foundry should benefit its increasingly international customer base. The plant, which is expected to have a significant book of business at startup, has been designed to be highly efficient using lean-manufacturing concepts and a high level of automation to minimize variability -- critical factors in the production of highly engineered safety and structural castings.

INTERMET Vice President Jesus M. Bonilla added, "Mexico is a major player in the global automotive industry. A number of automotive OEMs and system/module suppliers have assembly facilities there, but currently must import cast components to support their operations. With our new facility, INTERMET will be positioned to effectively serve our customer base. The site location in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, places the plant in a region close to our major customers, near transportation routes, and provides a workforce skilled in the manufacturing and technical abilities needed for our industry."

With headquarters in Troy, Michigan, INTERMET Corporation is a manufacturer of powertrain, chassis/suspension and structural components for the automotive industry. INTERMET's strategy is to be the world's leading supplier of cast-metal automotive components. The company has approximately 6,000 employees at facilities located in North America and Europe. More information is available on the Internet at www.intermet.com .

This news release includes forecasts and forward-looking statements about INTERMET, its industry and the markets in which it operates. Forward-looking statements and the achievement of any forecasts or projections are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. Some of these risks and uncertainties are detailed as a preface to the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition in the company's 2002 Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2002. Other risk factors include fluctuations in demand for our products in the Mexican market, our ability to secure customers for full utilization of the planned Mexico facility, and construction delays, cost increases or other problems that could affect our ability to begin production at the Mexico facility within the planned timeframes.