Las Vegas, NV, Nov. 4, 2008 - Tenneco Inc. (NYSE: TEN) announced today that the Monroe® Brakes product line has enjoyed another record year in 2008, with dozens of distributor and jobber changeovers from other brands, strong sell-through, and extremely positive feedback from aftermarket shop owners and technicians.
Introduced in late 2005, the Monroe Brakes product line - which includes Monroe Dynamics® semi-metallic pads, Monroe Ceramics® ceramic-formula pads and a full complement of Monroe brake shoes - has posted double-digit percentage sales increases compared to 2007 and continues to gain popularity and distribution among automotive service professionals.
"Shop owners, service writers and technicians love the fact that Monroe pads feature original equipment-style technologies and, in many cases, come complete with everything needed for the repair," said Rick Steinbrenner, marketing director, North American Aftermarket, Tenneco. "The fact that we package noise elimination clips, hardware, moly-based lubricant and electronic wire wear sensors along with our brake pads for a large percentage of applications helps shops perform high-quality brake jobs faster and easier each day."
Monroe brake pads combine advanced, OE-style friction formulations with a variety of pad design enhancements to help ensure long life and quiet, powerful braking for hundreds of popular applications. Monroe Dynamics semi-metallic pads feature the latest application-specific formulations for domestic and import models. Monroe Ceramics brake pads feature formulations with higher ceramic content to promote cooler, clean and quiet stopping performance as compared to conventional brake materials. In addition, all Monroe brake pads include OE-design and aftermarket-enhanced slots and chamfers, as required, to help substantially reduce brake noise.
The Monroe Brakes product line has grown to more than 1,000 pad SKUs and approximately 280 shoe SKUs for broad coverage of the North American vehicle population, as well as exceptional late-model coverage up to D-plate 1364 in pads and S-913 in shoes. In addition to automotive applications, the Monroe Brakes line now provides extensive coverage of popular medium- and heavy-duty truck models, enabling distributors and service providers to expand sales with growing vehicle applications. This includes expanded pneumatic air disc brake coverage for heavy-duty trucks.
"Our growth in both the automotive and commercial-vehicle categories has been fueled by satisfied repair professionals," Steinbrenner said. "Tenneco and the Monroe brand have provided a valuable alternative to shops that have been looking for a total brake solution for their customers' stopping needs. Our success at the installer level is a testament to the quality of every Monroe brake pad or shoe."
For additional information regarding Monroe brakes, please contact your Monroe supplier, visit www.monroebrakes.com, or write to: Monroe Marketing, Tenneco Inc., One International Drive, Monroe, MI 48161.
Tenneco is a $6.2 billion manufacturing company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois and approximately 21,000 employees worldwide. Tenneco is one of the world's largest designers, manufacturers and marketers of emission control and ride control products and systems for the automotive original equipment market and the aftermarket. Tenneco markets its products principally under the Monroe®, Walker®, GilletT and Clevite® Elastomer brand names.
Drew Shippy
Pinnacle Communications Group Inc.
(1) 330 688 3500
drew@pinmedia.com
