CSM Automotive Production Barometer (APB) - March 2005

DETROIT, March 11 -- CSM Worldwide, the leading provider of market intelligence and forecasting to the automotive industry, announces the March 2005 CSM Automotive Production Barometer(TM). Released in advance of existing sources of information, this new service provides an accurate tally of light vehicle production for the previous month to assist automotive economists and financial analysts in their ongoing industry evaluations.

"Our Automotive Production Barometer is intended to mirror and expand on the Federal Reserve's estimate of U.S. light vehicle production," said Greg Mount, chief economist at CSM Worldwide. "With our industry knowledge, historical record-keeping and expertise in forecasting, we're able to provide an accurate count of U.S. and aggregate North American light vehicle production an average of three to four days in advance of the Federal Reserve's report. In an industry where minutes can matter, we see this as a significant advantage."

The CSM Automotive Production Barometer for March 2005 is currently available via the CSM Worldwide website: http://www.csmauto.com/auto-production-barometer . Subsequent reports will be posted to the same location on or near the 11th of each month, with a teleconference to discuss the report and other issues related to the light vehicle market. The teleconference is scheduled for March 11, 2005, at 10:00 a.m. EST and will begin with a brief review of U.S. production results followed by a question and answer session lasting approximately 15 minutes. To access the conference call, please dial 1-866-482-6973.

Light vehicle production in the U.S. market increased 5.0% over last month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 11.98M units in February, but was down 2.2% year-over-year on an adjusted basis. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, February output fell 2.0% year-over-year at slightly over 1.00M units. The stronger results on a month-over-month basis were expected as January's weakness was due to incremental downtime employed by General Motors, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler. The drop in production on a year-over-year basis is attributable to weakness of Traditional Big 3 vehicles that continue to mount on dealer lots.

U.S. light truck production increased to a 63.0% share of total build for the month to 7.55M units on a seasonally adjusted basis, rebounding from last months low. Car output fell to 4.44M units on an adjusted basis or a 37.0% share of monthly output. Light truck production increased 6.1% in February compared to a 3.2% increase for cars on an adjusted basis.

North American production grew 2.3% in February compared to last month, but slipped 1.3% versus last year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15.92M units.

CSM Worldwide (http://www.csmauto.com/ ) supports more than 350 of the world's top automakers, suppliers and financial organizations with global market intelligence and forecasting services. With corporate offices in Detroit, CSM Worldwide covers the global automotive environment from London, Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Bangalore and Budapest.