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Historic partnership agreement for Canadian company

22 November 2000

Historic partnership agreement for Canadian company - NEWTECH GROUP INTERNATIONAL RECEIVES MANDATE TO ADAPT ITS FULL CONTACT BRAKE SYSTEM FOR ONE OF RENAULT V.I.'s HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLES

    BLAINVILLE (Quebec), Nov. 21 /PRNewswire/ - NewTech Group International
has signed an historic partnership agreement with Renault V.I. to adapt its
revolutionary brake system and to assess the potential cost of mass production
for Renault V.I./ Mack's heavy-duty (class 7 and 8) trucks equipped with a
pneumatic actuation mechanism.
    "This initial agreement with a truck manufacturer is a major development
in the marketing process of the Full Contact brake system from an
international standpoint," said Yvon Rancourt, president and COO of NewTech
Group International. "We are extremely pleased that a high-profile company
such as Renault V.I./Mack is providing us with the opportunity to demonstrate
what a quality product we have."
    Under the first phase of the agreement, Full Contact brakes will be
adapted to fit the Renault Magnum 480 (class 8 vehicle) at NewTech's research
centre in Blainville, Quebec. NewTech engineers took delivery of the various
components of the vehicle last week and road testing is expected to begin next
spring.
    The NewTech brake is a system whereby several segments of pads are
distributed over the full 360-degree surface of the disc. This differs from
conventional brakes, which use pads to apply pressure to certain parts of the
disc. The Full Contact brake system provides several advantages, including
better performance, less overheating and a reduction in noise and vibration.
The Full Contact brake system was first introduced in Detroit in 1998 at the
Society of Automotive Engineers' exhibition.
    "In a market as competitive as the heavy-duty vehicle industry, you
constantly have to be at the forefront of technological developments, and the
potential of this system incited us to confer this particular mandate on the
people who run NewTech," remarked Jean Berthaud, service manager for brakes,
transmissions and components for Renault V.I, a firm that owns the Mack Truck
company in North America.