Starcraft Launches Sales and Assembly Operation in Mexico

10 July 2000

Salau, Mexico Operation Opens Mexican Market to Starcraft Conversion Vans

    GOSHEN, Ind. - Starcraft Corporation today announced that it has opened a new sales and assembly operation in Salau, Mexico.

    Conversion vans will be assembled and distributed to the Mexican market through the new Salau operation.

    The new operation allows Starcraft to freely market its conversion van line in Mexico and benefit from the burgeoning Mexican economy, where regulations limit the sale of luxury vehicles imported from the United States.

    The Goshen facility has already begun shipping component part packages for the luxury vans to the Salau operation where they are assembled on incomplete van chassis. The large upgrade "kit" includes side walls, wood accents, seating and upholstery materials, raised roofs, running boards and other components that are built and packaged in the Goshen plant for shipment to Mexico each week. Once the assembly work is done, a Mexican-based sales office handles distribution of the finished vehicles through auto dealerships in Mexico.

    Michael H. Schoeffler, President of Starcraft Corporation, said, "We had a number of logistic hurdles to overcome to establish our Salau facility in accordance with international import-export regulations. But our efforts have enabled us to add meaningful production to our Goshen facility, while serving a growing market outside the U.S. We are already seeing a strong demand from the new operation."

    Schoeffler said, "The opening of the Salau, Mexico operation furthers our strategy to diversify our business and move into higher margin businesses that offer us excellent potential. I am excited about working with our new partners in Mexico and the new business this will bring to our Goshen plant. Our diversification strategy is clearly working as revenues for the first six months of fiscal 2000 are up 135 percent over the same period last year and we have earned $0.59 per diluted share for the period, turning around a loss of ($0.41) per diluted share for the first six months of fiscal 1999."

    Starcraft Corporation is a leading manufacturer of second stage vehicle conversions through its Starcraft, Imperial, Bus, Tecstar and National Mobility divisions.