DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee (DMTN)— It’s not an easy time to be in the automobile business, but thanks to the growing number of electronic parts in automobiles, DENSO is seeing a rising demand for its electronic products.

That’s one of the reasons DMTN is planning a major expansion, which was announced by Tennessee’s Governor Phil Bredesen.

“We needed more manufacturing capacity to meet the needs of our customers,” said DMTN President Masahiko “Mack” Hattori. Starting in early 2007, construction of an approximately 220,000-square-foot addition will begin, with building completion set for the end of 2007. Production is expected to start in early 2008. Site preparation has already begun.

This expansion is the single largest expansion in the 15-year history of DMTN, and will generate nearly 500 new jobs by 2010. DMTN also recently began expanding existing production lines, creating more than 100 new full-time jobs within three manufacturing plants over the past year.