BASF Catalysts Facility Receives Top Quality Award from Hyundai Motor Company

ISELIN, NJ, March 29, 2007 —BASF Catalysts' manufacturing facility near Chennai, India has been awarded Hyundai Motor Company’s highest business honor, the "Quality 5 Star Certification" for providing the automaker with advanced automotive emissions catalysts. This is the first time Hyundai has bestowed the top quality award on suppliers outside of Korea, and BASF Catalysts is one of only three companies in India to receive it.

Hyundai's Quality 5 Star Certification is based on a rigorous evaluation of a supplier's quality systems. Suppliers are subjected to periodic audits by Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) and Hyundai Motor Company teams to ensure they are maintaining and improving their performance.

H.S. Lheem, Managing Director, HMIL, congratulated the awardees and said, "Achieving 5 Star rating not only boosts the image and pride of our vendors, but also ensures good and continuous business associations with Hyundai."

HMIL launched a new campaign last year to become number 1 in global quality and product brand image. According to Mr. Lheem, vendor performance is a key part of achieving this goal.

"We are proud of this terrific achievement and of our Chennai team's ongoing efforts to implement world-class quality management systems," said Mark Clark, director of manufacturing services for environmental technologies at BASF Catalysts, "The award once again shows BASF Catalysts' true spirit of product innovation, manufacturing excellence and superior service to our customers."

BASF Catalysts' India facility opened in 1998 to provide India's growing automotive industry with emissions-control catalysts and technologies, with Hyundai becoming one of the site's first customers. Today the facility supplies catalysts for cars and for motorcycles and other small vehicles to all of the major carmakers. India is considered one of the world's fastest growing car markets, with growth estimated at 15 percent between April 2006 and January 2007, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

BASF Catalysts' India facility joins the company's joint venture in Korea, Heesung-Engelhard, in achieving Hyundai's 5 Star Certification. Heesung-Engelhard was the first Hyundai supplier to achieve 5 Star Certification and has now attained the honor 9 times.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company and is the second largest and fastest growing car manufacturer in India. HMIL presently markets 16 variants of passenger cars in six segments. In 2006, HMIL achieved a domestic growth rate of 19.1 percent over 2005, while overseas sales grew by 17.4 percent.
Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company has grown into the Hyundai Automotive Group, which includes Kia Motors Corp. and over two dozen auto-related subsidiaries and affiliates. Hyundai Motor posted 27.335 trillion won in sales in 2006, with vehicles sold in 190 countries around the world. Further information about Hyundai Motor Company and its motor vehicles is available on the Internet at http://www.hyundai-motor.com.

BASF Catalysts, a division of BASF Corporation, is the world's leading supplier of environmental and process catalysts. The group offers exceptional expertise in the development of technologies that protect the air we breathe, produce the fuels that power our world and ensure efficient production of a wide variety of chemicals, plastics, adsorbents and other products.

BASF is the world's leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products, agricultural products and fine chemicals to crude oil and natural gas. As a reliable partner to virtually all industries, BASF's high-value products and intelligent system solutions help its customers to be more successful. BASF develops new technologies and uses them to meet the challenges of the future and open up additional market opportunities. It combines economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility, thus contributing to a better future. BASF has over 95,000 employees and posted sales of €52.6 billion in 2006. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA), New York (BF) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.