Renault Cars Selects Open Harbor to Underpin Its Global Customs Compliance for $6000 Car

SAN CARLOS, Calif., June 21 -- Open Harbor, the leader in global trade management solutions, today announced that Renault, Europe's leading automobile manufacturer, has selected Open Harbor's Global Security and Compliance solution to support the multilateral import and export customs procedures for its recently-launched LOGAN car. Using this solution, Renault will have on-line access and a personalized user interface to Open Harbor's real-time database containing millions of trade rules and regulations.

Renault is pursuing a strategy of profitable growth and international expansion, and intends to achieve approximately half of its sales outside Western Europe in the longer term. Exporting vehicles made in Western Europe to countries such as Russia, Morocco, and Colombia would result in the cars being priced beyond the means of the emerging middle class in these regions. Therefore, Renault's management decided on a mixed-sourcing strategy of having the LOGAN assembled on-site, using both locally-sourced and imported Renault parts. For example, Renault's Romanian subsidiary Dacia, acquired in 1999, manufactures cars using Renault and local parts, and then sells these vehicles in the local market as well as to other countries in central and Eastern Europe. This strategy, while embracing one of Renault's strategic goals of quality, cost control, and just-in-time delivery, increased the complexity of managing customs clearance, both between Europe and the developing countries, and between these countries themselves.

After evaluating a number of options, including the development of a home-grown solution, Renault's Tax and Customs department selected Open Harbor's Global Security and Compliance solution. Open Harbor hosts the application, while Renault has 24/7 availability and a personalized user interface to access its data. This approach suited Renault's desire for an open, flexible system to interconnect all of its global partners, without incurring heavy development and maintenance costs. Open Harbor's online solution helps store and manage the international trade characteristics of the LOGAN parts catalog, including country-specific Harmonized Tariff System codes. This simplifies and automates the customs procedures at shipment time.

Open Harbor's solution, launched in September 2003, includes trade compliance rules for 64 countries, accounting for 95 percent of global commerce. Using this solution, Open Harbor's customers eliminate shipment delays and fines imposed by the customs authorities, and significantly reduce costs associated with international trade compliance. The online Global Security and Compliance solution helps store and manage the international trade characteristics of a customer's catalog, including country of origin and country-specific Harmonized Tariff System codes.

"Most trade compliance solutions on the market enable import and export procedures between the home country and other countries," said Bill Walsh, CEO at Open Harbor. "The strategic advantage that Open Harbor's solution brings to global manufacturers like Renault is to automate trade compliance processes multilaterally, from any country to any country, facilitating their internationalization strategies and helping them to target new markets."

About Open Harbor

Open Harbor's first-and-only suite of integrated trade services creates a unified view for companies and their partners to manage the complexity of international trade operations in real time. Unlike existing solutions whose U.S.-centric and non-integrated approaches limit the potential benefits of global trade automation, Open Harbor's industrial-strength solution, delivered via the Web, is unique in its ability to support trade from and to any country. By using dynamically updated rules-based content, the solution speeds trade while ensuring vigilant compliance across the world's borders. Open Harbor ... Global Trade Redefined. For more information please visit www.openharbor.com

About Renault

Renault is an international automaker that has acquired a global reach through its Alliance with Nissan and acquisitions of Romanian car manufacturer, Dacia, and South Korea's Samsung Motors. Renault pursues a strategy of profitable and responsible growth with its innovative, quality range of vehicles and services. For nearly 50 years, Renault has made safety a pillar of its strategy. Today it boasts the safest line-up in Europe -- it has five cars with five stars in Euro NCAP crash tests. Worldwide, Renault employs 130,740 people. It sold 2,389,000 vehicles in 2003, recording revenues of euro 37.5 billion and a net income of euro 2.48 billion.