Press Release

Press Release

January 10, 2013

NSK Ltd.
Public Relations Department

NSK Announces Plans to Establish a Manufacturing Subsidiary in Mexico

Tokyo, Japan, January 10, 2013 – NSK Ltd. (NSK; Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO: Norio Otsuka) announced today that the company would establish a manufacturing subsidiary in Mexico, as outlined below.

1. Objective of establishing the manufacturing subsidiary

NSK has decided to establish a manufacturing subsidiary in Mexico in order to better deal with the expansion of automobile production in Mexico and in order to keep up with expected growth in the automobile segment among the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries of the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Through the establishment of this subsidiary, NSK will be better positioned to provide quality products such as bearings for automobiles in a timely manner. It will also give NSK increased capacity in addition to its existing plants in the U.S. in supporting NSK's plans to expand its North American automobile businesses. By increasing the production capacity of bearings for automobiles in the Americas, including Mexico, NSK aims to build a stronger corporate ability to deal with exchange rate fluctuations as well as to further expand its business in North America.

2. Overview of the manufacturing subsidiary

1) Company name NSK Bearings Manufacturing Mexico S.A. de C.V.
2) Location Mexico, state of Guanajuato
3) Representative Steven Beckman , NSK Corporation Senior Vice President
4) Date of establishment Planned for January 2013
5) Business areas Manufacture and sale of automobile bearings
6) Capital Approximately USD 5 million (as of April 2013)
7) Investment breakdown 100% NSK Ltd.
8) Size of plant Site area of approximately 100,000 ㎡ and building floor space of approximately 13,000 ㎡ planned at the initial stage
9) Commencement of operations Planned for Spring 2014
10) Investment amount Approximately USD 70 million

3. Future outlook

NSK does not expect any significant impact on its consolidated financial results in the current fiscal year as a result of establishing the subsidiary.

Reference: History of NSK in the Americas

NSK began proactively entering international markets back in the 1960s. The NSK Group currently has global manufacturing sites at 64 locations in 13 countries including the new plant in Mexico.

Specific to the Americas, including South America, NSK established a sales office in the U.S. in 1962, and a plant in San Paulo, Brazil in 1970 -NSK's existing first plant outside of Japan. In 1973, NSK established a joint venture in Ann Arbor, Michigan for the manufacturing and sales of its products. NSK currently has 8 manufacturing sites in operation and 20 sales offices in the Americas. NSK's sales in the Americas at the end of March 2012 totaled 86.3 billion yen.

In Mexico, NSK produced seat belts in Tijuana from 1990 to 2000. Also in 1990, NSK established NSK Bearings Mexico as a distributor with two sales locations, in Mexico City and Monterrey, for the sales of such products as automotive-related products and bearings for industrial machinery.

The new manufacturing site in Mexico will focus on the production of bearings for automobiles. This site will improve NSK's supply power and cost competitiveness in the automobile business in the Americas and enable NSK to provide superior quality products in a timely and stable manner.

NSK will continue to answer local market needs by developing true local production capability in order to expand its automobile business on a global level.