Nissan Recognizes Top Suppliers with Quality Awards; Three Honored for Outstanding Performance, Three for Greatest Improvement

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--July 27, 2006--Nissan North America gathered its top North American suppliers in Nashville for the annual Nissan Supplier Quality Seminar and Awards event.

The Nissan Supplier Quality Awards are presented to suppliers, based on year-long evaluations of their systems, incoming quality, response time, pricing, design support, timely shipments, product performance and complexity, warranty and Nissan's own vehicle evaluation system.

"Each vehicle we build represents an important purchase in our customers' lives, and our suppliers help us satisfy their expectations," said Doug Betts, senior vice president, Total Customer Satisfaction. "Every year at the seminar, we re-emphasize our mutual commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. Our suppliers' performance is critical to Nissan's success, so we use this opportunity to thank them and commend top performers."

During an evening ceremony, Nissan recognized three companies that represent the best of its supplier team. The highest honors, Regional Supplier Quality Awards, were presented to:

-- Automotive Corporation Inc., which provides steering knuckles, tow hooks and support brackets from its facility in Batavia, N.Y.;

-- DENSO International America Inc., supplier of fuel injectors, spark plugs and air fuel sensors from its plant in Athens, Tenn.; and

-- Topre America Corp., which manufactures cross members, door reinforcements and hood ledge assemblies at its plant in Cullman, Ala.

Nissan also recognized three suppliers that made outstanding improvements in quality over the past year.

Recognized as Most Improved suppliers were:

-- Benteler Automotive Corp., Grand Rapids, Mich., which supplies exhaust manifolds;

-- K&S Wiring Systems Inc., Aguascalientes, Mexico, for wiring harnesses; and

-- Michelin Automotive Industries, Ardmore, Okla., for tires.

The top 103 suppliers were named as Quality Masters, a rating that is given to suppliers that achieve a top score in evaluations from Nissan North America's Engineering, Manufacturing, Product Quality, Production Control and Purchasing divisions.

An additional 120 companies were presented Zero Defect certificates, which are earned by suppliers that achieve an annual defect rate of fewer than three parts per million.

Nissan has invested over $4.2 billion in its three U.S. manufacturing facilities. The vehicle assembly plant in Smyrna, Tenn., produces the Nissan Altima, Nissan Maxima, Nissan Xterra, Nissan Frontier and Nissan Pathfinder. The plant in Canton, Miss., produces the Nissan Altima, Nissan Quest, Nissan Titan, Nissan Armada and Infiniti QX56. In Decherd, Tenn., the powertrain assembly plant machines components and assembles transaxles and all the vehicle engines (a 4-cylinder, two 6-cylinder and an 8-cylinder) for Nissan's U.S. automotive manufacturing plants. In the fall of 2006, the plant will begin forging one million crankshafts annually.

In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.NissanUSA.com and www.infiniti.com.