Press Release

Brose acquires electric motor operations from Continental AG

Coburg/Hanover, December 20, 2007. The Brose Group is to acquire Continental AG ’s electric motor operations, the sale being agreed by the two companies on December 20, 2007. The acquisition is subject to the approval of the antitrust authorities. "We decided to sell the former Siemens VDO Electric Motor Drives operations and Continental's cooling fan business to the Brose Group because Brose's excellent positioning in the market segment creates exceedingly good prospects for that business," said Continental's Executive Board Chairman, Manfred Wennemer.

"Considerations along these lines had already been discussed at Siemens VDO Automotive AG, so we resumed those considerations and brought them to a close. At the same time, we have jointly arrived at a solution that caters for the interests of customers as well as for those of the employees. Moreover, we're keeping to our promise of making decisions as quickly as possible during the phase of integrating the former Siemens VDO units so as to eliminate any uncertainties”, added Wennemer.

The transaction comprises the business with electric motors for window regulators, anti-lock braking systems (ABS/ESC), heating/ventilation, engine cooling and electric power steering. The activities of the Electric Motor Drives business unit in Würzburg and , as well as the development office in Nuremberg and the location in will be transferred to the buyer. Hybrid activities, which are also located in Berlin, shall not be affected by this transac- tion. In addition, there are six plants in La Suze/France, Gainesville/U.S.A., Reynosa/Mexico, as well as in , Zhangjiagang and Chanchun (all in China). Only individual produc- tion lines are being sold at the sites in Trutnov/Czech Republic, Budapest/Hungary and Salto/Brazil. All in all, Continental has approximately 4,200 employees working for its electric motor operations, with sales this year totaling €740 million.

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Following the purchasing of the door latch business from Bosch in 2003, Brose now intends to further increase its competitive edge in mechatronic systems for the vehicle body with the acquisition of the electric motor operations from Continental. "In-house production of a de- fined scope of core components is as much a part of our strategy as the gradual enlargement of our range by adding products with a promising future. Both these aspects can be ideally fulfilled with the acquired motors business," said Jürgen Otto, CEO of the Brose Group.

Brose is the leading manufacturer of window regulators, door systems and seat adjusters, and - with over 70 million units per annum - is the world's biggest buyer of electric motors. The acquisition will give Brose access to new areas of activities. As legal successor, Brose takes over the existing agreements concluded with the employee representatives, and as a socially-responsible family company with nearly 100 years of tradition, it has good prerequi- sites for maintaining and expanding jobs in view of its own high requirements.

With annual sales of more than €25 billion (based on 2006 figures), the Continental Corporation is one of the top five automotive suppliers worldwide. As a supplier of brake systems, systems and compo- nents for the powertrain and chassis, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics, tires and technical elastomers, the corporation contributes towards enhanced driving safety and protection of the global climate. Today, the corporation employs approximately 150,000 people at more than 200 locations in 36 countries.

The Brose Group is the leading manufacturer of mechatronic components and systems for vehicle bodies and interiors. Products include window regulators, door systems, seat adjusters, closure systems as well as drives to open and close liftgates. In 2007, Brose achieved sales of €2.5 billion. The group currently has about 9,800 employees at almost 40 locations in 19 countries.

Contacts at Continental: Katja Mattl Hannes Boekhoff Head of Communications Head of Press Continental Continental AG Powertrain Division Sieboldstrasse 19 Vahrenwalder Strasse 9 90411 Nuremberg, 30165 Hanover, Germany Phone: +49 911 9526-2591 Phone: +49 511 938-1278 Fax: +49 911 9526-2537 Fax: +49 511 938-1055 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Corporate Media Database: www.mediacenter.continental-corporation.com

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Contacts at Brose: Gabi Rujoub Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Central Corporate Communications Ketschendorfer Strasse 38-50 96450 Coburg, Germany Phone: +49 9561 21-1188 Fax: +49 9561 21-1704 E-mail: [email protected]

Brose image database: http://www.brose.com/de/pub/presse/index.htm