Ricardo Beefs Up Global Footprint with Two New Facilities in China

Ricardo completed the first phase today with the move into a new technical center containing triple the working area of its previousShanghai location. Now there is space for a total staff of approximately 100. The second phase, scheduled for completion by the end of 2008, features a testing facility in the expanding Anting "Auto City" area west ofShanghai.

The newShanghai technical center will focus on providing high added-value services and projects for both Chinese and overseas clients with approximately 90 percent of the team fulfilling technical and engineering roles. The center is based in a central location close to the futuristic and prestigious Hi-Tech Park development at Caohejing, a convenient location for many of Ricardo's customers and advanced technology component and system suppliers. The Anting test center is located near significant automotive operations, including the technical headquarters of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and the SAIC-VW assembly plant.

"With these two phases of expansion in 2008, we are transforming Ricardo China into a significant regional product-engineering and development presence capable of taking on the toughest product-development challenges and delivering high-quality services for our Chinese customers," said Lee Sykes, executive VP of Ricardo China. "These developments take Ricardo beyond the level of an overseas engineering provider, giving the company crucial critical mass as a local supplier of engineering services in the Chinese market, backed up by the global resources of Ricardo. As such we are far better placed to achieve our objectives for locally based engineering recruitment and further development of our Chinese business."

Ricardo CEO Dave Shemmans added: "The emerging automotive markets of China,Russia andIndia are major targets for the future growth of Ricardo as a whole, and our further investment in Ricardo China underscores our commitment to providing an excellent standard of service, responsiveness, quality and technology, irrespective of the location of our international customers."

About Ricardo

Ricardo, the Eco-Innovation Technology Company, is a leading independent provider of technology, product innovation, engineering solutions and strategic consulting to the world's automotive, military, transport and new energy industries. The company's skill base represents the state-of-the-art in low emissions and fuel-efficient powertrain technology, and can be best summarized: "Ricardo is Fuel Economy."

With technical centers and offices throughoutEurope, the U.S. andAsia, Ricardo provides engineering expertise ranging from vehicle systems integration, controls & electronics, hardware and software development, to the latest driveline and transmission systems and gasoline, diesel, hybrid and fuel cell powertrain technologies. Its customers include the world's major automakers and suppliers as well as manufacturers in the military, commercial, off-highway and clean energy sectors. The company also serves in advisory roles to governmental and independent agencies. Ricardo's U.S. operation, Ricardo, Inc., is headquartered inVan Buren Township, Michigan. Ricardo plc posted sales of $344 million in financial year 2007 and is a constituent of the FTSE TechMark 100 index -- a group of innovative technology companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information, visit www.ricardo.com.

Ricardo offers TVFE(TM), its Total Vehicle Fuel Economy engineering service, to transportation manufacturers worldwide to provide objective evaluation of all available technologies to identify the most cost-effective strategies to optimize fuel economy and CO2 goals. For more information on TVFE, please visit www.totalvehiclefueleconomy.com.

SOURCE Ricardo

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