50,000TH MACHINE PRODUCED AT SAN MAURO TORINESE

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TURIN, Italy - (May 27, 2008) - The New Holland Construction Equipment plant at San Mauro Torinese has celebrated production of its 50,000th excavator. The machine was a 32-tonne E305B, launched on the major markets at the beginning of 2008. With the B series, New Holland completes its assortment of crawler excavators, and it now offers the market 9 new models in the heavy line, covering the band from 13 to 50 tonnes.

The range renewal process began in 2007, with the launch of the E215B excavator, the first in the B series, and will be completed by the end of 2008. The new B series excavators, developed in association with the company's Japanese partner Kobelco, have been completely redesigned with the new Tier III engines, which ensure higher productivity and lower consumption, and the new cab, its modern equipment improving the operator's comfort and making the machine easier to drive.

"The San Mauro Torinese plant is one of our company's production centres of excellence," said Giampiero Biglia, Italian market manager for New Holland Construction. "The investments made in recent years and the consequent major transformations in logistics make this Europe's largest industrial facility for the production of wheel and crawler excavators."

In operation since the early '70s, this production location stands out for its ability to manage a high degree of production complexity. In fact, it produces 9 models of excavators in almost 48 different versions, while there are 17 versions of the 7 models of wheel excavators.

"The state-of-the-art production cycle is made possible by variable-mix assembly lines and, above all, the high degree of professionalism of the plant's workforce," said Santo Canto, factory manager. "The San Mauro plant is an industrial outfit working under the new procedures of World Class Manufacturing, introduced throughout the Fiat Group, which aim to maintain high standards of excellence to guarantee product quality, competitive production costs, processes in line with the latest safety criteria, staff training and reduced environment impact, to give the customer total satisfaction in terms of service and quality."
 
 
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New Holland is a global, full-line construction equipment brand, with a network of 700 dealers and more than 1,800 outlets in 100 countries. The company brings together the strength and resources of its world-wide commercial, industrial and finance organisations. Thanks to the experience of its foundation heritage brands, New Holland can proudly point to quality products at the technological state of the art, fully compliant with safety standards and environmental regulations. More information can be found on line at www.newholland.com. New Holland Construction is a part of CNH (NYSE: CNH) and Fiat Group (FIA.MI).