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THINK Invests in New R&D Center in Oslo

Oslo, Norway, 29 March 2010 – Pioneering Scandinavian EV maker, THINK, today announces a significant investment in a brand new, state-of-the-art product development facility at its corporate headquarters in Fornebu, Oslo, Norway.

The company’s 70-strong team of product development engineers and technicians will shortly move into the new facility at Fornebu. The fully integrated development centre will offer the pioneering THINK team cutting-edge facilities including a dedicated climate chamber, dynamometer, rolling road, clean room and several prototype laboratories for electrical and hardware development.

The THINK development centre will be located at the heart of the company’s expanding corporate headquarters in Oslo, and will benefit from short communications lines for project leaders from across the company’s functions, such as supply chain, marketing sales and service and finance – who will all be located within the same facility for the first time.

THINK CEO Richard Canny, said: “This move to our brand new development centre builds upon the continued strengthening of the pioneering THINK EV product development team, with new staff being recruited right now to continue and enhance the development of our world-class EV drive-train systems, vehicle control software and EV design. We aim to take on 30 to 50 new staff during the course of the next twelve months who will focus on the future development of the THINK City vehicle.”

The latest generation THINK City is a purpose-built, all-electric car designed for urban environments. It can travel at highway speeds and cover 160 kilometers on a single charge (via any 220V household outlet), with zero local emissions. It is the world’s first EV to be granted certification with the European CE conformity mark and EU homologation requirements (M1 certificate). To achieve these exacting standards, the THINK City has successfully completed very thorough testing and validation procedures.

European production of the THINK City is underway in Finland with manufacturing partner Valmet Automotive, which also assembles the Boxster and Cayman models for Porsche AG. First customer deliveries are taking place across Europe in selected key EV markets such as Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Austria.

THINK also recently announced plans to establish a U.S. production facility during 2011 in Elkhart County, Indianapolis.

Photo caption: The I T Fornebu complex in Snaroya, Oslo – within which THINK’s new product development facilities are being built.

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