Wescast to Construct Technical Development Centre and Corporate Offices in Brantford, Ontario

19 September 2000

Wescast to Construct Technical Development Centre and Corporate Offices in Brantford, Ontario

    BRANTFORD, Ontario--Sept. 19, 2000--Wescast Industries Inc. announced today that it will locate its new technical development centre and corporate offices in Brantford, Ontario.
    Construction will commence on the 75,000 sq.ft. facility in 2001 with completion scheduled for early 2002.
    This new facility will allow the Company to accelerate Product Design and Testing activities, provide Advanced Process Development, support diversification initiatives and carry out focused R&D all under one roof. It will include a mini foundry and machine shop for producing prototypes more quickly and carrying out advanced engineering studies. It will house product and material testing equipment as well as simulation equipment all aimed at providing highly-engineered customer solutions.
    The Company will invest approximately $23M at this new site to be located at Highway 403 and Oak Park Road in Brantford. This site will also be the new home for the corporate support group that will be relocating from the Brantford casting plant.
    "This is a very exciting initiative for Wescast. It clearly demonstrates that Wescast is investing in the future and will allow us to centrally support all our manufacturing facilities as well as our global sales and design centres located near our customers," said Bill LeVan, Wescast Vice-President, Technology.
    "This is an important milestone in Wescast's history. This investment will serve our needs well into the future and represents the growth of our business, allowing us to increase our global market share in manifolds, and diversify into new products," said Ray Finnie, Wescast President and CEO.

    Wescast Industries Inc. is the world's largest supplier of exhaust manifolds for passenger cars and light trucks. The Company designs, develops, casts, and machines high-quality iron and steel exhaust manifolds for automotive OEMs. In addition to auto parts, the Company produces pressure retaining high-alloy cast steel pump components for the petrochemical, pulp and paper and food processing industries. Wescast operates seven production facilities in North America, and three sales and design offices in North America and Europe. The Company is recognized worldwide for its quality products, innovative design solutions, and highly committed workforce.

Advisory

    Certain information regarding the Company set forth in this document, including management's assessment of the Company's future plans and operations, may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities law and necessarily involve risks associated with the automotive industry, production, marketing, and transportation such as loss of market, volatility of prices, currency fluctuations, environmental risks, competition from other producers and ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources; as a consequence, actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.