BWA BorgWarner Inc

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., May 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors of BorgWarner Inc. has approved investments of approximately $125 million to increase the company's global passenger car turbocharger capacity by more than three million units. The increased capacity is expected to meet growing demand for the company's fuel-efficient turbocharger technology and will support new business awards in North America, Europe and Asia. The investments include construction of new facilities in Mexico and Thailand, and expansion of facilities in Hungary and Poland. The added capacity will produce turbochargers for both diesel and gasoline engines. The spending for these projects will occur over the next few years. "With new business awards, additional capacity is essential to meet customer demands for our market-leading turbocharger technology," said Tim Manganello, BorgWarner Chairman and CEO. "The continued growth of diesel engines around the world and the move to gasoline direct injected engines in North America provide us an opportunity to leverage our turbocharger technology expertise as never before. We will be well positioned to serve our customers' needs as the world market for turbochargers expands. The demand for turbochargers is expected to grow over 40% in the next five years, from 19 million units to 27 million as more engines are downsized and turbocharged and more sophisticated engines incorporate multiple turbochargers." North America: North American turbocharger production for passenger cars is expected to more than double from 1 million units today to 2.3 million by 2013. Gasoline and diesel turbocharged engines are a key part of every major automakers' future plans in North America. A turbocharger facility to be built on the BorgWarner campus in Ramos, Mexico is expected to start production in mid-2010 to supply a major North American gasoline direct-injected engine program. Europe: The third expansion of the Hungary plant will accommodate production of an advanced turbocharger system for a new gasoline engine program and programs for small diesel engines with critical European customers. The facility in Poland, which just began construction in March, is already sold to capacity and will move into a second phase expansion immediately. The expansion will double its floor space to accommodate a number of additional programs for small diesel engines. Demand for small diesel turbocharged vehicles continues to rise sharply in Europe. Diesel turbocharger production is expected to grow 20% in Europe from about 11.8 million units today to 14.2 million units in 2013. Over the same period, European gasoline turbocharger production is expected to more than double from about 1.6 million units to 3.8 million units. Asia: Thailand was selected as a strategic location for expansion of turbocharger production in Asia to support both local and ASEAN demand. Current turbocharger demand in Thailand is increasing rapidly with several Japanese and North American based automakers in the process of expanding production there. With its more advanced and proven technology, BorgWarner stands to gain as the market expands. Turbocharger production in Asia is expected grow 48% by 2013 to 6.7 million units. Auburn Hills, Michigan-based BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE:BWA) is a product leader in highly engineered components and systems for vehicle powertrain applications worldwide. The FORTUNE 500 company operates manufacturing and technical facilities in 64 locations in 17 countries. Customers include VW/Audi, Ford, Toyota, Renault/Nissan, General Motors, Hyundai/Kia, Daimler, Chrysler, Fiat, BMW, Honda, John Deere, PSA, and MAN. The Internet address for BorgWarner is: http://www.borgwarner.com/ . Statements contained in this news release may contain forward-looking statements as contemplated by the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act that are based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond our control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed, projected or implied in or by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include: fluctuations in domestic or foreign vehicle production, the continued use of outside suppliers, fluctuations in demand for vehicles containing our products, changes in general economic conditions, and other risks detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Risk Factors, identified in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K. We do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements. DATASOURCE: BorgWarner Inc. CONTACT: Mary Brevard of BorgWarner Inc., +1-248-754-0881 Web site: http://www.borgwarner.com/

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