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Dana is First Supplier for Chrysler/BMW Joint Venture

31 March 1998

Dana is First Supplier for Chrysler/BMW Joint Venture

    MUSKEGON, Mich., March 30 -- Dana Corporation's
Perfect Circle Sealed Power Division is the first supplier approved by Tritec
Motors Ltd., a new joint venture between Chrysler and BMW.  Perfect Circle
will supply piston rings kits for new 1.6L and 1.4L engines to be produced in
Brazil.
    Tritec is developing a new family of gasoline engines, including 1.6L
(8 and 16 valve) and 1.4L (16 valve) four cylinder powerplants.  Perfect
Circle will supply the whole ring pack for the new engines, which will be
built in a new plant in Campo Largo, in southeast Brazil.
    "Job one" for the new plant is scheduled for the year 2000, and the
company expects to produce 400,000 engines-a-year for export to Chrysler
customers and Rover, a UK subsidiary of BMW.
    The advanced ring pack supplied will include a top ring in steel with
plasma moly coating, a second ring in special gray cast iron, plus a three
piece steel oil ring.  The piston rings were developed at Perfect Circle's
Gravatai, Brazil, plant with technical support from Perfect Circle's Muskegon,
Michigan, technology center in the United States.  This marks the first time a
Brazilian team participated in a global project from its inception, designing
and developing advanced piston ring technology to meet the needs of the
original equipment (OE) engine manufacturer.  Traditionally, OEs have designed
products and then asked their component suppliers to build to their product
specifications.
    Perfect Circle currently has three plants in Brazil and Argentina,
employing 800 people with sales in excess of $50 million.  The plants supply
piston rings to Ford, General Motors, MWM Diesel Engines, Maxion Engines,
Mercedes Benz and Volvo in Brazil, and Renault, Peugeot and Perkins in
Argentina.
    Perfect Circle is part of Dana's Engine Components group, one of Dana's
global Strategic Business Units.
    Dana Engine Components provides advanced, synergistic, total systems
solutions to engine builders' parts design and sourcing, worldwide.  Dana
Engine Components combines the strengths and capabilities of Victor Reinz(R)
gaskets and sealing products, Perfect Circle(R) power cylinder components and
heavy duty camshafts, Wix(R) filtration products, and Plumley powertrain
components.
    A global leader in the engineering, manufacture and distribution of
products and systems for the vehicular, industrial and off-highway markets,
Dana Corporation core businesses are engine components, axles, driveshafts,
structural components (frames), sealing products, filtration products,
industrial products and leasing.  Founded in 1904 and based in Toledo, Ohio,
Dana operates facilities in 30 countries with more than 52,000 people.  Its
1997 sales were $8.3 billion, and it operates more than 40 product research
and development centers worldwide.  Dana can be visited on the Internet at
http://www.dana.com.

SOURCE  Dana Corporation