Supreme’s New “SIGNATURE” Van Body Hits Production Line

GOSHEN, Ind.--Supreme Industries, Inc. , a leading manufacturer of specialized commercial vehicles, including truck bodies, shuttle buses, armored vehicles, homeland response vehicles and luxury motorcoaches, today announced that it has begun production of its highly anticipated “SIGNATURE” Van Body. This new industry standard in commercial dry freight van bodies is the result of an 18-month project during which feedback from major industry customers, suppliers and OEM manufacturers drove the design process.

“We actively sought out the opinions of our dealers, customer and suppliers, as well as the Supreme sales team, using our first Customer Sounding Board and Supplier Councils to obtain input on the project,” said Supreme’s Vice President of Sales Mark Beer. “Their ideas were critical to the process.”

The Supreme Van Body redesign satisfies a user wish list including increased interior dimensions and a more attractive, durable and user-friendly design, with a superior vehicle warranty:

		o		Supreme’s new SIGNATURE Van Body comes standard with an industry-leading three year, 36,000-mile warranty and five-year structural warranty.
		o		The SIGNATURE Van Body features a tough steel-framed substructure mounted to the customer’s choice of chassis, with the front wall in Supreme’s own fiberglass-reinforced plywood (FRP) for added durability. Side walls are available in either aluminum or FRP.
				On the side wall option, Bob Besse, Supreme’s Director of Marketing and Product Planning, commented: “Today, there are innovative side wall materials in development or already entering the market that could be cost-effective, light-weight and durable. The SIGNATURE Body side walls were designed with lightweight steel frames, allowing for aluminum or FRP to be used today, or other materials to be used in the future.”
		o		A wider, taller rear door opening, featuring a Todco ToughShellTM rear roll-up door enables easier loading and unloading of pallets and cargo. Internal gussets in the rear door provide superior resistance to water penetration.
				“Users indicated that the rear door opening is the most important dimension in the body. Our challenge was making the rear frame smaller (to increase the opening size), while adding durability. Additionally, we needed to eliminate the exterior triangle gusset. We did…giving a cleaner look to the rear, a wider opening and greater strength in the rear frame,” Besse added.
		o		The SIGNATURE Body boasts a true interior length and more cargo capacity than comparable van bodies.
		o		The new design also offers a number of standard interior and exterior features that were previously optional, including sealed wiring harnesses that integrate with new LED exterior clearance lights, mitigating downtime for electrical repairs and maintenance.
				“Wiring damage (and resulting vehicle downtime) is a major maintenance nuisance for customers, and this includes the wires going into the corner caps for the exterior lights. Supreme, using a composite front cap, designed a unique two-phase system for the cap wiring. The first are integrated loops in the cap (which we could not have accomplished with the old-fashioned aluminum cast caps) that the wires run through. The second is a wire cover that covers the wiring from load damage inside the body. The innovative use of new materials allowed us to design this system,” said Besse.
		o		Finally, Supreme’s puck-mounting system is standard for its Iner-City cutaways sold through General Motors and Ford dealers.
				“Fleet customers prefer having their cutaway bodies puck mounted instead of U-Bolt mounted (the industry standard for decades). The reason is that puck mounting gives a superior ride, of particular importance when renting a vehicle to consumers who do not normally drive a truck,” Besse concluded.

Beer summed up: “As part of the development process, the SIGNATURE prototype bodies underwent extensive on-track testing on the Bosch Automotive Proving Grounds, as well as rigorous endurance evaluations. The result is a van body with exceptional user-functionality in terms of engineering, design and quality. The redesign takes advantage of parts standardization to increase efficiency for custom builds and reduce lead times from order to delivery, enabling both Supreme and its customers to enhance their competitiveness.

“The response to our pre-production pilot units has been very enthusiastic. Our customers and dealers are excited and looking forward to receiving their initial orders.”

Supreme’s SIGNATURE Body will be featured at the 2009 NTEA Work Truck Show Convention this March in Chicago. The Company also plans to introduce a new model this spring based on its Vanscaper unit—a vehicle ideal for the green industry, including landscaping, lawn care, golf course maintenance and nurseries. Additional information on the new SIGNATURE Body is available on Supreme’s revamped Company website, which now includes a secure Dealer Center website specifically designed for the needs of commercial truck dealers and can be accessed by clicking here.

Supreme builds a wide variety of durable, high-quality bodies for work trucks, delivery vehicles and more. All Supreme bodies are customizable to meet the specific needs of the businesses or individuals who use them.

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About Supreme

Supreme Industries, Inc. (STS), is a nationwide manufacturer of specialized truck bodies produced to the specifications of its customers. Supreme also manufactures special-purpose “shuttle-type” buses, armored vehicles and luxury motorcoaches. The Company's transportation equipment products are used by a wide variety of industrial, commercial, law enforcement and Homeland Security customers.

News releases and other information on the Company are available on the Internet at: http://www.supremeind.com

This report contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995), other than historical facts, which reflect the view of the Company's management with respect to future events. When used in this report, words such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company or its plans or operations, identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company's management. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations are reasonable, and it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such expectations include, without limitation, limitations on the availability of chassis on which the Company's product is dependent, availability of raw materials, raw material cost increases, and severe interest rate increases. Furthermore, the Company can provide no assurance that such raw material cost increases can be passed on to its customers through implementation of price increases for the Company's products. The forward-looking statements contained herein reflect the current views of the Company's management with respect to future events and are subject to those factors and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to the operations, results of operations, cash flows and financial position of the Company. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons actual results could differ from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements.