American Axle & Manufacturing Announces New Rear Axle Business

American Axle & Manufacturing Announces New Rear Axle Business With DaimlerChrysler DETROIT, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. (NYSE: AXL) announced today that it has been awarded a new contract to supply a new generation of rear axles to DaimlerChrysler for a six-ton Mercedes transporter van for model year 2001. This major European automotive contract represents American Axle & Manufacturing's (AAM's) first major tier-one contract with DaimlerChrysler. The axles will be shipped to DaimlerChrysler at a German facility. They will be shipped from the Glasgow, Scotland facility of Albion Automotive, AAM's United Kingdom-based driveline subsidiary. Axle production will begin in June 2000. Details of the sales contract were not disclosed. American Axle & Manufacturing currently manufactures various forgings used on DaimlerChrysler vehicles in North America. David C. Dauch, vice president, Sales, Marketing & Capacity Planning, explained that the transporter van axle is the first new axle program for Albion Automotive since AAM acquired Albion in October 1998. "This new business with DaimlerChrysler is a result of the synergies between AAM's innovative engineering and worldwide sales organisation," he said. "It is a credit to the leadership of the people in our European Business Office, which was opened just last year. It is also in line with our goals of growing globally and diversifying our customer base." "This new axle program will take advantage of the capability and capacity of Albion Automotive, and the skill and expertise of our talented Albion associates," explained Michael D. Straney, AAM's vice president, Europe, who oversees Albion operations. "We are delighted to have been selected by DaimlerChrysler as a supplier," said Jim Hastie, Albion Automotive's chief executive. "Coming on top of our established contracts with blue-chip customers such as DAF trucks, Leyland trucks, Volvo, LDV, Rover, Rolls Royce, Perkins and, more recently, Renault VI, it demonstrates our continued progress in developing Albion Automotive into a broadly based internationally competitive components supplier." Within the last 10 months, AAM has diversified its customer base significantly, through acquisitions as well as conquest business and the aggressive pursuit of contracts with new customers. It has also expanded globally -- from five manufacturing facilities, a Technical Centre, and an Asia Pacific Business Office just 10 months ago to 19 locations, including 16 manufacturing facilities, around the world today. AAM is a world leader in the manufacture, engineering and design of driveline systems, chassis systems and forged products for trucks, buses, sport utility vehicles, and passenger cars. In addition to its many locations in the United States (in Michigan, New York and Ohio), AAM also has offices and facilities in Mexico, Japan, England, Germany, and Scotland. Certain statements contained in this press release which are not historical facts contain forward-looking information with respect to the Company's plans, projections or future performance, the occurrence of which involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results or plans to differ materially from those expected by the Company which include risk factors described in the Company's prospectuses with the Securities and Exchange Commission. CONTACT: Patrick J. Paige, director, Corporate Relations & Communications of AAM, +1-313-974-2948/ Web site: http://www.aam.com/ (AXL)