Tenneco Automotive and Van Heck Sign Innovative Aftermarket Exhaust Deal

BRUSSELS, Belgium, and LAKE FOREST, Illinois, July 6 --

- Benelux Market Agreement Expands Walker(R) Exhaust Business With Van Heck

Tenneco Automotive announced today that it has been chosen by aftermarket wholesale distributor Van Heck & Co., Schiedam, in the Netherlands, as its primary supplier of aftermarket exhaust products for the Benelux countries.

The agreement includes an innovative distribution arrangement in which Tenneco Automotive will ship product pre-packaged from its European distribution centre directly to Van Heck's central warehouse, giving the distributor significant competitive advantage in inventory management, logistics and delivery lead times.

"We are very pleased to further expand our relationship with Van Heck with this incremental exhaust business," said Mark P. Frissora, chairman and CEO, Tenneco Automotive. "The ability to ship a broad range of exhaust products from one central source is a unique offering in Europe, and is the kind of differentiator that allows us to achieve new aftermarket business by bringing creative logistics solutions that help our customers better serve their customers."

Adrian Roggeveen, Chairman of the Van Heck Group, said: "Van Heck and its Business Partner Network want to work with Tenneco Automotive to achieve economies in the supply chain, which will benefit consumers. Our choice of Tenneco Automotive is clear -- Tenneco is one of the largest OE suppliers. With its experience, the company can meet our Romax brand standards."

Tenneco Automotive's strength in coverage, product availability and central warehousing, combined with Van Heck's advanced e-business and data communications solutions, will be further reinforced with this new distribution system. The system will manage Van Heck's inventory and stock rotation by linking demand to Tenneco Automotive's production planning process.

Tenneco Automotive currently supplies Monroe(R) Reflex(R), Sensa-Trac(R) and Original(R) shock absorber and Walker(R) exhaust products to Van Heck for its 235 independent retail customers in Holland.

The agreement is effective immediately. Additional terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

Tenneco Automotive is a USD$3.8 billion manufacturing company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois and approximately 19,200 employees worldwide. Tenneco Automotive is one of the world's largest designers, manufacturers and marketers of emission control and ride control products and systems for the automotive original equipment market and the aftermarket. Tenneco Automotive markets its products principally under the Monroe(R), Walker(R), Gillet(R) and Clevite(R)Elastomer brand names. Among its products are Sensa-Trac(R) and Monroe Reflex(R) shocks and struts, Rancho(R) shock absorbers, Walker(R) Quiet-Flow(R) mufflers, Dynomax(R) performance exhaust products, and Clevite(R)Elastomer noise, vibration and harshness control components.