VC Visteon Corporation

Visteon Lights The Way For GM's Technology Integration Vehicle at SAE Visteon's LED Front Lighting is industry's first road-worthy, available application of technology VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich., April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Visteon Corporation (NYSE:VC) is lighting the way for the Cadillac STS SAE 100 Technology Integration Vehicle with the industry's first road-worthy application of LED (light emitting diode) Front Lighting. GM's Technology Integration Vehicle was unveiled at the SAE World Congress, taking place at Detroit's Cobo Center from April 11-14, 2005. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001201/DEF008LOGO ) Visteon's LED Front Lighting provides unique styling opportunities for automakers, while delivering a durable light with extended life, reduced power consumption and reduced space requirements. Visteon already produces LED rear signal lights and is the industry's first Tier I automotive supplier to announce the development of a "road-worthy beam pattern" application of LED front lighting. "Visteon is pleased to work with General Motors in demonstrating this breakthrough application of LED technology as a front-end lighting source," said Todd Sheppelman, Visteon's vice president and general manager of the General Motors customer business group. "We've focused our lighting and electronics engineering resources to bring our customers a technology that is functional and offers styling flexibility to help them differentiate their vehicles." LED technology has been available to vehicle designers for rear signal light applications for nearly a decade. Moving them to the front of the vehicle is a greater engineering challenge because of the many light sources that must be arranged and focused to provide necessary nighttime and inclement-weather visibility. Visteon's expertise in lighting, electronics and underhood thermal management resulted in a new approach to this challenge. This new approach includes unique optics and a new method of light source placement to direct the white light into a beam pattern that meets federal requirements for automotive front lighting. In addition, LEDs need to be thermally managed for heat dissipation to withstand engine-compartment temperatures. LEDs also require precise electronic current control over their operating range. Visteon's ability to focus its range of automotive engineering expertise addressed these challenges and, based on automotive production schedules, is capable of bringing this scaleable-light-output, production-ready technology to the automotive market in a matter of months. An LED is a compact, solid-state semiconductor device that converts electrical energy into light. The LED elements are associated with specialized optics to create a beam pattern for high beam, low beam, daytime running lamps, or fog lamps that meet federal requirements. While LED front lighting can be customized to complement traditional Halogen or HID/Xenon lighting, Visteon's LED Front Lighting demonstration lamps are comprised entirely of LED technology. LED-based headlamps offer several advantages to revolutionize automotive lighting. These advantages include flexibility in design, improved packaging, reduced power consumption and long life. LED front lights are up to 55-percent thinner than their non-LED counterparts, thus opening up space in the engine compartment or in the grille to add styling options. Since LED lights don't use a single light source but rather several sources combined to achieve the required beam pattern, designers have the opportunity to arrange light sources and provide a unique differentiating appearance. This includes the possibility of placing LEDs to create different daytime and nighttime "faces" for a vehicle. Visteon Corporation is a leading full-service supplier that delivers consumer-driven technology solutions to automotive manufacturers worldwide and through multiple channels within the global automotive aftermarket. Visteon has about 70,000 employees and a global delivery system of more than 200 technical, manufacturing, sales and service facilities located in 25 countries. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001201/DEF008LOGO DATASOURCE: Visteon Corporation CONTACT: Robin Pannecouk, +1-734-710-5575, , or Jim Fisher, +1-734-710-5557, , both of Visteon Corporation Web site: http://www.visteon.com/

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