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Dürr expands Asian business further

12/15/2006

• Large contracts from China and India
• Incoming orders from Asia expected to rise by approx. 70% in 2006

Stuttgart, December 15, 2006 – The Dürr Group has received an order worth € 57 million from South Korean automaker Hyundai for the design and construction of a paint shop in Beijing. Already in November, an Indian vehicle manufacturer also ordered a new paint shop for € 27 million. Against this background Dürr expects to show an increase of incoming orders from Asia by almost 70% to about € 400 million in 2006.

In terms of consolidated sales of about € 1.4 billion, Asia thus already accounts for 30% of total business. Experts expect strong growth of automobile production in Asia also in the future. Growth of about 70% is expected for China in the next five years, and of almost 60% for India. In view of this, Dürr expects a good business trend in Asia again in the coming year. "Besides the large, established automobile manufacturers", says Dürr AG CEO Ralf Dieter, "new, expanding automobile manufacturers from the growth markets themselves will play an increasingly important role. We can profit from this additional demand through our direct presence on the local markets".

Dürr will execute the order from Hyundai in Beijing together with Rotem, a plant engineering company belonging to the Hyundai group. Dürr will take the lead in technical aspects, be responsible for the entire design, and supply extensive parts of the plant technology. Assembly of the new paint systems will begin in April of next year, and Hyundai intends to start production already at the end of 2007. The project in Beijing is already the third large order that Dürr has received from Hyundai or its subsidiary Kia this year. Before, the South Korean group ordered paint shops for its plants in Yancheng, China, (June) and Chennai, India (January). In China, Dürr is currently executing further large paint shop projects for joint venture Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën and for a Chinese automaker.

The 27 million € project in India is a paint shop for trucks. The customer intends to start production in the new facility in May 2008; the trucks will be sold mainly on the domestic market.

Besides paint systems, the Group’s largest line of business, the other parts of the Dürr Group are also registering growing demand from Asia. In the balancing and diagnostics systems business unit, for example, Asia probably accounted for 38% of new orders in 2006. That reflects not least the strong demand for balancing systems from the growing power plant sector.

The Dürr Group is one of the world’s leading suppliers of products, systems, and services for automobile manufacturing. Its range embraces important stages in the vehicle production process. As a systems supplier, Dürr designs and builds paint shops and final assembly plants. Dürr also supplies cleaning and filtration equipment used in the production of engine and transmission components as well as balancing and diagnostic systems for vehicle components. Business with automobile manufacturers and their suppliers accounts for about 90% of consolidated sales. Other important customer groups are the mechanical engineering sector and the chemical, pharmaceutical, coating, and aviation industries.