Westport Announces Amended Cummins Westport Joint Venture Agreement
PR Newswire
VANCOUVER, Feb. 20, 2012
~Westport and Cummins Agree on New Focus for CWI; Announce Launch of New CWI HD Engine; Conference Call to Follow~
VANCOUVER, Feb. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Westport Innovations Inc. WPT WPRT, the global leader in natural gas engines, today announced that it has entered into an amended and restated joint venture agreement (JVA) with Cummins Inc. for the Cummins Westport Inc. (CWI) joint venture. The JVA was amended to provide for, among other things, clarification concerning the scope of products within CWI. In addition, the parties have revised certain economic terms of the JVA.
In a separate announcement, CWI today announced the commercial launch of a new 12 litre natural gas engine based on the successful Cummins ISX12 diesel platform. The new engine incorporates the same industry leading combustion technology as CWI's most successful engine, the 8.9 litre ISL G. The new ISX12 G is currently in field trials with production expected to commence in early 2013. CWI will market this new engine in North America, and Cummins will have the option of developing international versions of this new engine for markets outside North America. The new engine will be manufactured in Cummins' Jamestown, New York Engine Plant.
"Over the past 10 years, CWI has emerged as the pre-eminent supplier of high performance natural gas engines for commercial vehicles," said David Demers, CEO of Westport Innovations. "With this new agreement, we have taken the necessary steps to provide CWI with a platform for continued growth and success over the next 10 years, while recognizing the dramatically increased interest in natural gas as a fuel."
Details of Amended Joint Venture Agreement
Under the prior JVA, CWI had a global exclusive right to design,
engineer, and market mid-range on-road spark-ignited natural gas
engines based on Cummins diesel engines manufactured in Cummins
facilities. Cummins and Westport have agreed in the amended and
restated JVA to focus CWI's future product development on North
American markets including engines for on-road applications between the
displacement range of 5.9 litres through 12 litres, and to have these
engines manufactured in Cummins North American plants.
Westport will appoint the President for the first three-year term. The chairman will be Ed Pence, Cummins Vice President and General Manager - Heavy Duty Engine Business.
The joint venture will now have a term of ten years. The JVA can be terminated under certain circumstances before the end of the term, including in the event of a material breach of the agreement by, or in the event of a change of control of one of the parties.
Live Conference Call & Webcast
Westport has scheduled a conference call for tomorrow, Tuesday, February
21, 2012 at 5:00am Pacific Time (8:00am Eastern Time) to discuss this
announcement. The public is invited to listen to the conference call in
real time by telephone or webcast. To access the conference call by
telephone, please dial: 1-800-319-4610 (Canada & USA toll-free) or
604-638-5340. The live webcast of the conference call can be accessed
through the Westport website at www.westport.com/investors. To access the conference call replay, please dial 1-800-319-6413
(Canada & USA toll-free) or 604-638-9010 using the pass code 5261. The
replay will be available until February 28, 2012. Shortly after the
conference call, the webcast will be archived on the Company's website
and replay will be available in streaming audio.
About Westport Innovations Inc.
Westport Innovations Inc. is a leading global supplier of proprietary
solutions that allow engines to operate on clean-burning fuels such as
compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen,
and renewable natural gas (RNG) fuels such as landfill gas and help
reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Westport technology offers
advanced LNG fueling systems with direct injection natural gas engine
technology for heavy-duty vehicles such as highway trucks and off-road
applications such as mining and rail. Westport's joint venture with
Cummins Inc., Cummins Westport Inc. designs, engineers and markets
spark-ignited natural gas engines for North American urban work
vehicles such as buses and refuse trucks. Westport LD division is one
of the global leaders for natural gas and LPG fuel in passenger cars,
light-duty trucks and industrial applications such as forklifts. To
learn more about our business, visit our website or subscribe to our
RSS feed at www.westport.com, or follow us on Twitter @WestportWPRT.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements regarding the anticipated benefits for each of Westport and
CWI arising out of the amended and restated joint venture agreement,
the anticipated timing and success of the launch of the new 12 litre
engine from CWI and its effect on CWI sales, the demand for our
products, the future success of our business and technology strategies,
investment, cash and capital requirements, intentions of partners and
potential customers (including Cummins and CWI), the performance and
competitiveness of Westport's and CWI's products and expansion of
product coverage, future market opportunities, speed of adoption of
natural gas for transportation and terms of future agreements as well
as Westport management's response to any of the aforementioned factors.
In particular, the benefits arising out of the amended and restated
joint venture agreement depend on many factors and may be affected by,
amongst other things, the limitations and restrictions on market scope
for CWI and Westport's use of CWI's intellectual property. These
statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and
unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on assumptions that may
cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or
achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels
of activities, performance or achievements expressed in or implied by
these forward looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include
risks and assumptions related to our revenue growth, operating results,
industry and products, the general economy, conditions of and access to
the capital and debt markets, governmental policies and regulation,
technology innovations, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, the
availability and price of natural gas, global government stimulus
packages, the acceptance of and shift to natural gas vehicles in fleet
markets, the relaxation or waiver of fuel emission standards, the
inability of fleets to access capital or government funding to purchase
natural gas vehicles, the sufficiency of bio methane for use in our
vehicles, the development of competing technologies as well as other
risk factors and assumptions that may affect our actual results,
performance or achievements or financial position discussed in our most
recent Annual Information Form and other filings with securities
regulators. Readers should not place undue reliance on any such
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they were
made. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise such
statements to reflect any change in our expectations or in events,
conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based,
or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from
those set forth in these forward looking statements except as required
by National Instrument 51-102. The contents of any website, RSS feed or
Twitter account referenced in this press release are not incorporated
by reference herein.
SOURCE Westport Innovations Inc.
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