Yoshikazu Kurihara Named President of GKN Japan

Yoshikazu Kurihara, president of Tochigi Fuji Sangyo Ltd., has been named president of GKN Japan, an Osaka-based affiliate of UK-based GKN Driveline, the worlds leading provider of vehicle driveline products.

OSAKA, Japan (PRWEB) January 1, 2004 --Yoshikazu Kurihara, president of Tochigi Fuji Sangyo Ltd., has been named president of GKN Japan, an Osaka-based affiliate of UK-based GKN Driveline, the worlds leading provider of vehicle driveline products.

Kurihara will serve as president of both companies in a move to expand GKNs business operations in Japan. He succeeds Haruo Tanaka, who is retiring at the end of this year after 25 years as president of GKN Japan. Tanaka will continue to serve as a GKN consultant.

Our key efforts," Kurihara said, will be to expand our business with Japanese automobile manufacturers, increase our business efficiency and address and enhance the quality of our service to customers."

GKN Driveline, the largest Tochigi Fuji Sangyo (TFS) shareholder, first invested in TFS in March 2003 and currently owns 33.3 percent of the company with an option to raise its share up to 50.1 percent. By consolidating its Japanese operations under Kurihara, GKN Driveline expects to expand its product line-up with a focus on driveline-related products, enhance cooperative development of new products and increase efficiency through the joint procurement of parts and materials.

Tanaka, president of GKN Japan since 1979, noted that GKN Driveline has steadily grown from a liaison office in Japan into a large business that can now supply products to almost all Japanese automobile manufacturers. GKN Drivelines business will continue to expand in the Japanese driveline products market through the coordination and partnership with Tochigi Fuji Sangyo."

About GKN Driveline
With automotive sales in 2002 of $2.95 billion, GKN is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of driveline system products and has a 43 percent share of the market for constant velocity joints (CVJs). Most of the leading vehicle manufacturers worldwide produce vehicles containing driveline components made by or under license from GKN. GKN Driveline has manufacturing facilities in all significant car manufacturing countries worldwide run through regional centers in Lohmar (Germany), Redditch (UK), Detroit (US) and Singapore. Operating 46 manufacturing facilities in 20 countries worldwide, GKN Automotive Driveline has some 21,000 employees. GKN information can be found on the Internet at http://www.gknplc.com

About GKN Driveline in Japan
GKN Driveline began operations in Japan in 1962 when it first contracted a licensing agreement with a Japanese company. In 1973, it established GKN International Japan (currently GKN Japan Ltd.). Since its founding, GKN Japan has experienced steady growth and currently supplies driveline products to almost all Japanese automobile manufacturers. In 1999, it established GKN Toyota Driveline, a joint venture with Toyoda Machine Works Ltd. (TSE: 6206) and, in 2000, it established GKN Driveline Utsunomiya by acquiring an in-house maker of driveline products from Nissan Motors. It recently announced plans to establish two joint ventures in Thailand with Toyoda Machine Works Ltd.

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Note to Editors: Photos of Yoshikazu Kurihara and Haruo Tanaka are available on request by contacting Chip Drake at cdrake@usautocom.com.

Company Contact
Paul Dinwiddy
GKN Driveline Headquarters
Phone: 011 44 1527 533 646
E-mail: paul.dinwiddy@add.gknplc.com
URL: www.add.gknplc.com
    
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