Hella Expands York Manufacturing Facility

YORK, S.C., Dec. 29, 2003 -- Hella Lighting Corporation will expand production at its York, South Carolina, plant by more than 50 percent during the coming year, according to Joe Borruso, president and CEO of Hella North America.

During 2004, the company plans to increase annual production of automotive headlamps and fog lamps from 1.8 million units to more than 2.5 million units.

"When our York facility opened in 2000, we expected it to grow to about 100 employees and produce 1.5 million units per year," said Borruso. "Today, we have more than 140 employees and expect that number to increase by over 30 percent next year."

In order to expand production capacity, Hella will move logistics and warehousing activities from the York facility at 7979 Park Place Road to a nearby building, previously used by Hella subsidiary Berndorf-Hueck.

The York plant is one of North America's most advanced headlamp production facilities and supplies lighting components for DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Mercedes-Benz.

Lighting, electronics, complete vehicle modules, air conditioning systems, vehicle wiring systems and signal processing for the automobile industry, as well as automotive aftermarket components, are the core competence fields of automotive supplier Hella KG Hueck & Co. Sales for the Hella Group are approximately $3.8 billion, placing Hella among the top 100 German industrial companies.

With its corporate headquarters in Lippstadt, Germany, the company employs more than 22,800 people at 61 manufacturing facilities, production subsidiaries and joint-venture companies in 18 countries. Over 1,800 engineers and technicians work in research and development. All of the world's leading automobile and systems manufacturers are Hella customers as well as the automotive components aftermarket.

Additional information is available on the Internet at www.hella.com .