ThyssenKrupp Budd Company Breaks Ground On New Chassis Plant in Hermosillo, Mexico

HERMOSILLO, Mexico, Jan. 19, 2004 -- ThyssenKrupp Budd Company, a leading supplier to the automotive industry, today broke ground on a new multi-million chassis component facility in Hermosillo, Mexico, 200 miles south of Tucson.

The 133,000 square foot (12,361 square meters) facility is scheduled for full operation in 2005. It is expected to employ up to 350.

Joined by a group of government and community officials, including State of Senora Secretary of Economy Raymundo Garcia de Leon and Hermosillo Mayor Maria Delores Del Rio, company officials broke ground at the 11-acre (4.44 Hector) site.

"Our purpose here is to become a company committed with quality products, appreciative of its employees, sensitive to the regional culture, integrated with its community and responsible to the environment," said Earl E. Kansier, president of ThyssenKrupp Budd's Chassis Sector.

ThyssenKrupp Budd Company, with headquarters in Troy, Mich., and more than $2.5 billion sales, is part of ThyssenKrupp Automotive Group, of Bochum, Germany, which boasts more than $6 billion in automotive sales worldwide, 50 percent of which come from the NAFTA Region.

ThyssenKrupp Budd's products can be found on nearly 100 current model vehicles. The company produces sheet metal stampings and assemblies, chassis modules and components, gray and ductile iron castings, bumpers and air bag components.

It has announced plans to build an automotive facility in Tijuana, Mexico, to build composite pickup boxes, and is a joint venture partner in Aventec S.A. de C.V. which produces automotive steel stampings and assemblies in Silao.

More information on ThyssenKrupp Budd can be found at www.thyssenkruppbudd.com .