Akebono Headquarters Move to Kentucky

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., April 17 -- Akebono Corporation North America (ACNA) will be relocating their North American headquarter operations from Farmington Hills, Michigan, to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. This move will take place throughout the 2006 calendar year and will affect approximately 50 positions.

After ACNA acquired the additional 50% of Ambrake Corporation, a thorough review of all of ACNAs administrative functions was completed. The Board of Directors decided that in order to consolidate and strategically align these functions, Kentucky would be the best place since this is where the majority of the Akebono associates currently reside.

Akebono has an established presence in the Detroit area and understands the necessity of remaining in the Automotive capital of the World. Therefore, the Board of Directors decided that the engineering team, the OEM sales team and the research and development team will remain in Farmington Hills to support all of the key customers and new product development.

Akebono manufacturing facilities are located in Elizabethtown, KY (AMBRAKE); Glasgow, KY (AMAK Brake, Ltd. joint venture with Itochu Corp.); and Springfield, KY (AMTEC). The company's North American research and development technical center is located in Farmington Hills, MI.

Akebono Corporation, North America (ACNA) is a world leader in advanced brake and friction material development and production, with a focus on noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) analysis and control. ACNA is a subsidiary of Akebono Brake Industry Co., Ltd. (Tokyo) which operates technical/R&D centers in Japan, the United States and France, with 30 wholly owned or affiliated manufacturing facilities worldwide. Akebono launched U.S. brake sales and production operations in 1980. Worldwide, Akebono employs 6,800 people, with 2,000 in North America. For more information, visit http://www.akebonobrakes.com/ .