“DuPont Science and Technologies” LLC has been cooperating with KAMAZ for several years. In particular, for 2 years the company sponsored Kamaz MASTER and organized the Team’s departure for the Lisbon-Dakar Rally 2007 from the Red Square.

This year the rally will also become the major point uniting the interests of the two majors – Russian automotive industry leader and American science company providing leading innovative solutions for the automotive industry. Specially for Lisbon-Dakar 2008 all the Kamaz MASTER cars taking part in the rally will be painted with DuPont paints.

DuPont partnership with motorsport technical teams is not only local, but global in scope – besides Kamaz MASTER DuPont is an official supplier of the BMW Sauber Formula 1 team and a sponsor of the four-time Winston Cup (NasCar) Champion Jeff Gordon. As the rallies are the hi-tech laboratory and the accelerator of the new technologies development for the major automotive companies, it means that major automakers consider DuPont to be a partner of choice. And the partnership in the framework of the motorsport has all the chances to grow into the further long-term cooperation.

According to DuPont’s estimates, Russia’s automotive market has a capacity of $300 billion, with an annual growth of 20%, coupled with a production output growth of 6% to 7% annually. The automotive industry accounts for 10% of the country’s GDP, employing over 1 million people, and up to 7 million people with related industries included.

Along with the growing demand for automobiles, consumers have increasingly higher expectations of equipment quality. It expands the need to use DuPont materials and technologies which enhance vehicle performance characteristics such as reliability, serviceability, ergonomics, comfort, and design.

Notable among solutions developed by DuPont for the Russian automotive industry are an air-intake manifold for AvtoVAZ, a cylinder block cover for ZMZ/GAZ and AvtoVAZ, and soundproofing materials for AvtoVAZ. All of these components were custom-developed for domestically produced cars, in compliance with applicable requirements.

“DuPont aims to offer to Russian automakers optimal solutions which would fully meet their demands and will permit to get serious competitive advantages, including optimized production costs, high quality cars and components, and enhanced engineering options,” said John Shmorhun, DuPont Regional Director for Eastern Europe.

DuPont is open to cooperation with KAMAZ across a variety of applications for mass-produced cars: from the technological and system solutions for managing OEM painting technologies, introducing dedicated rally car designs, to manufacturing engine components from engineering plastics, to using special-purpose materials for high-thermal-load engines.

Additionally, DuPont opens up a unique opportunity for professionals at  partner automotive companies in Russia to participate in developing new technologies while receiving training at DuPont’s technology centers in Germany and Switzerland.
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