NTN joins BAR partner portfolio

Lucky Strike B*A*R Honda today announced NTN Corporation as the latest Team Partner to join its growing portfolio. The multi-year deal, which commences at the team's 2005 car launch, will see NTN become a further on-car sponsor.

NTN is a leading global manufacturer of bearings and constant velocity joints with total annual sales exceeding $3.5 billion. Since the company was established in 1918, NTN has supplied many industries with products and technologies that have been essential to their development. NTN is also aggressively proceeding with the development of various precision equipment for cutting-edge technology fields.

Headquartered in Osaka, Japan, NTN employs more than 12,000 employees working in 19 countries with a sales and production network encompassing Japan, the Americas, Europe, Asia, and China.

The company is already an active sponsor of drivers, teams and Championships in the motorsport world including the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, CASCAR and the WSA/CSRA Snowcross Circuits. NTN racecars convey the company's key values of competitiveness and innovativeness, while providing NTN with a testing ground for modern bearing technology.

Kenji Okada, Director and Corporate General Manager, NTN Corporation said, "High-tech, precision, speed - these are all values of Formula One racing. NTN Corporation shares and stands for these values in product development, customer services and human relations. The additional NTN brand visibility on each B*A*R Honda car is considered to be a great platform to increase the affinity for the NTN brand and the commitment of our people and partners to provide F1-technology products and services on a global basis.

"The B*A*R Honda team is known for its continuous challenge for the Championship, a target also inherent in NTN Corporation. NTN and its employees are proud to become a Team Partner with B*A*R Honda."

Honda is one of NTN's major automotive customers. The company will therefore not only be a Team Partner to B*A*R Honda, but is looking at the potential of developing and providing new state-of-the-art products for the team's cars in the future.

Nick Fry, Chief Executive Officer, B*A*R Honda added, "We are proud to announce a further Team Partnership with NTN Corporation, a leading player in their field and a major supplier to Honda."

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