TRW Inc. and Mercedes-Benz Lenkungen GmbH Form Joint Venture

3 November 1997
TRW Inc. and Mercedes-Benz Lenkungen GmbH Form Joint Venture

    CLEVELAND, Nov. 3 -- TRW Inc. and Mercedes-Benz Lenkungen
GmbH today announced a new joint venture company, SteerTec Steering Technology
GmbH.  Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
    The 50/50 joint venture will be headquartered in Krefeld, Germany.
Christian Schwarz, of Mercedes-Benz Lenkungen, has been named managing
director and an executive committee has been established by both partners to
define strategic targets.  Members of this committee are Emil Purgly on behalf
of TRW and Christian Sanner on behalf of Mercedes-Benz Lenkungen GmbH.
    The joint venture company will provide steering and suspension products,
application engineering, and project management services in support of the
globalization activities of Daimler-Benz AG outside of Europe.  The JV's
activities may be expanded to other customers as TRW and Mercedes-Benz
Lenkungen may agree in the future.
    "This is exactly the kind of global partnership that we are looking for,"
says Norbert Fulling, managing director, Mercedes-Benz Lenkungen GmbH.  "TRW
has strong manufacturing capability around the world and is entering emerging
markets aggressively.  Together, we can serve the steering, linkage and
suspension product needs of Daimler-Benz's assembly plants outside of Europe.
And through TRW's network, we can also serve the Americas."
    According to Bernd Blankenstein, executive vice president and general
manager of TRW Steering, Suspension & Engine Group, "This new alliance with
Mercedes-Benz Lenkungen gives us the opportunity to extend our global supplier
relationship with Daimler-Benz.  Furthermore, this new relationship helps us
to complement our product range -- such as with small fully integral steering
gears."
    Mercedes-Benz Lenkungen GmbH develops, produces and distributes steering
systems and components for passenger cars, vans, trucks, busses and special-
purpose vehicles. This includes the supply of steering systems using either
rack & pinion or fully integral gear steering, as well as the necessary valve
components mainly for Daimler-Benz AG divisions but also for other automobile
manufacturers (VW, Ssang Yong, etc.).  In 1996 the company produced about
850,000 steering gears and estimates production of about 1.1 million for 1997.
Mercedes-Benz Lenkungen is headquartered in Dusseldorf.  In addition to this
production facility, the company recently opened a second plant in Meseritz,
Poland.
    TRW is a leading supplier of automotive power rack & pinion steering and
suspension systems.  In 1996, the company produced more than 9 million power
rack & pinion steering gears worldwide and about 400,000 fully integral
steering gears for commercial vehicles.
    With 137 principal facilities and operations in 26 countries, TRW
is one of the largest independent OEM automotive suppliers in the world.

SOURCE  TRW Inc. and Mercedes-Benz Lenkungen GmbH