Behr America Expands Troy Headquarters Campus

TROY, Mich., July 19 -- Behr America broke ground today on a $8.5-million, three-story, 69,000-square-foot office building that will increase the overall size of its four-year-old North American headquarters and technical center by more than 75 percent.

The second major expansion of the Troy location in three years, the new building will be constructed on a 2.3-acre site that is adjacent to Behr America's current headquarters campus. When completed in early 2007, the building will house nearly 270 Behr employees who are now working in rented facilities in the area. This will allow for further engineering and program- management job growth over the next several years.

The new facility will include offices, a conference center and an additional testing lab area.

"The groundbreaking underlines our commitment to providing our North American-based customers with local engineering support," says Frank Mueller, president and CEO of Behr America. "Since 2002, we have experienced steady growth with an increase in our headquarters-and-technical staff from 100 to nearly 550 employees."

Behr's technical center in Troy is one of the world's most advanced testing facilities for vehicle thermal management. It includes a $15-million, high-technology climatic wind tunnel which opened in 2004. It enables Behr researchers and product-development engineers to test air-conditioning and engine-cooling systems with extreme precision in all categories of cars and trucks under any climate or road condition. The facility also is used by other suppliers and automakers.

A number of civic and community leaders were on hand for the new office building's groundbreaking ceremonies with Behr's president, including Troy Mayor Louise E. Schilling and Ken Rogers, executive director of Automation Alley.

"The City of Troy values Behr's contributions to the economic vitality of our area and to the future of the global auto industry," said Mayor Schilling. "Behr has become a very important member of our community."

"We've seen Behr's staff and office complex grow significantly in the last several years. Behr is setting the pace for many automotive component suppliers who have chosen to locate in southeast Michigan," Automation Alley's Rogers noted.

Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, Behr America has nearly 3,000 employees at facilities in Troy, Mich., Dayton, Ohio, Charleston, S.C., and Fort Worth, Texas.

Behr GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart, is a systems partner for the international automobile industry. A specialist for automotive air-conditioning and engine- cooling systems, the Behr Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers and suppliers of original equipment for passenger and commercial vehicles. Group sales in the 2005 business year were approximately $3.8 billion. Currently Behr employs more than 18,000 people at 10 development and 30 production sites in Europe, North and South America, Asia and South Africa.

Additional information is available at http://www.behrgroup.com/ .