• Kayaba UK is one of three wholly owned European subsidiaries of Kayaba Industry Company Ltd based in Tokyo. The other two companies are located in France and Germany
• Kayaba Industry Company Ltd is Japan’s leading hydraulics manufacturer with a revenue of approximately $1.6 billion
• 60% of sales are from automotive shock absorbers
• Kayaba is the world’s largest original equipment supplier of shock absorbers to vehicle manufacturers, with a 23% market share. Manufacturers supplied include Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Ford, among many others. The company also supplies original equipment front fork assemblies to many leading motorcycle manufacturers, for example Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha, and makes aircraft landing gear and suspension components for the Japanese Bullet train
• Kayaba products are sold under the KYB brand
• The aftermarket product range for the UK includes four oil and gas shock absorber types for standard and performance cars, LCVs and 4x4s; suspension mounting kits; protection kits and coil springs. A range of vehicle lowering kits will be launched in April 2002
• Kayaba UK has a stockholding of 130,000 shock absorbers and provides car parc coverage of 98.7%, and order fill of 99%
• Kayaba UK was established in 1997, and has its office and 20,000 sq ft central distribution centre located adjacent to the M62 motorway at Warrington
• Kayaba supplies the UK aftermarket through a network of independent distributors, as well as the SDL network
• Kayaba’s European headquarters are based at Meerbusch, near Dusseldorf , Germany

March 2002