Siemens VDO Automotive Donates $25,000 to Rochester Adams High School FIRST Robotics Team

AUBURN HILLS, Mich.--March 22, 2005--Siemens VDO Automotive continues its commitment to corporate responsibility through its recent $25,000 sponsorship of the Rochester Adams High School 2005 FIRST Robotics Competition team #245. For the seventh consecutive year, the company is proud to sponsor the Rochester, Mich.-based team, which helps to develop the next generation of innovators.

"Being involved in the community through education-based programs like FIRST fosters the advancement of tomorrow's technology," said Siemens VDO Automotive President and CEO John Sanderson. "Siemens VDO Automotive embraces its responsibility to being a good corporate citizen and the FIRST Robotics Competition is an effective and satisfying way for the company, as well as employees, to contribute to the community, while preparing and creating a future workforce of innovators."

In addition to Siemens VDO Automotive's financial support, the company also provides supervised access to machining and fabrication facilities at its Main Regional Office in Auburn Hills, Mich. and employee volunteers act as mentors to the young aspiring engineers. Siemens VDO Automotive involvement in this program is part of Siemens Corp.'s Caring Hands Initiative.

The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science Technology) Robotics Competition is a nationwide competition that pairs professionals and students to solve engineering and design problems in an intense, competitive and professional game environment. The 2005 nationwide competition will include more than 25,000 students representing approximately 1,000 teams from almost every U.S. state, as well as Brazil, Canada, Great Britain, Mexico, Ecuador and Israel.

For their past efforts, Siemens VDO Automotive earned two Siemens Caring Hands Community Excellence Awards for their continued involvement with the Rochester Adams and Rochester Hills schools' FIRST programs. The awards provided an additional $3,000 donation to the Rochester Schools Foundation used to support its FIRST Robotics High School Teams.

The FIRST Robotics Competition formerly kicked off on Jan. 8, 2005 at Southern New Hampshire University in N.H. where teams were shown this year's game and field and received a kit of parts to provide a level starting point. Teams have a total of eight weeks to construct a robot that has the opportunity to compete in 30 regional events offered in cities across the United States and Canada.

Since the January kickoff event, the Rochester Adams High School FIRST team #245 has placed first in the competition's Sacramento and Detroit Regional Events. Known as the AdamBots, the team next travels to Grand Rapids, Mich. on March 31-April 2, 2005 to participate in the West Michigan Regional Event. A third and final strong performance could place the team among the top competitors going into the National Championship event taking place at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on April 21-23, 2005.

Additional information regarding the 2005 FIRST Robotics Competition can be found on the Internet at www.usfirst.org and more details on Siemens Corp's Caring Hands Initiative is available at www.usa.siemens.com/siemenscares.

Siemens VDO Automotive is a tier-one supplier of automotive electronic/electrical systems and components with applications covering gasoline and diesel powertrain technologies, safety and chassis systems, body electronics, plus interior products including infotainment systems. Worldwide sales reflecting fiscal year 2003/2004 totaled $11.6 billion (EUR 9.0 billion). For more information: www.usa.siemensvdo.com.

Siemens AG is one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $91.5 billion in fiscal 2004. Founded more than 150 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas of Medical, Power, Automation and Control, Transportation, Information and Communications, Lighting, Building Technologies, Water Technologies and Services and Home Appliances.

With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City, Siemens in the USA has sales of $16.6 billion and employs 70,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Eleven of Siemens' worldwide businesses are based in the United States. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens AG and its subsidiaries employ 430,000 people in 192 countries. For more information on Siemens in the United States: www.usa.siemens.com.