Volvo Trucks Executive Named Chair of the 2005 SAE Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress & Exhibition

WARRENDALE, Pa., Jan. 17, 2005 -- The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) announced that Peter Karlsten, president and CEO of Volvo Trucks North America, Inc., has agreed to serve as the Executive Chair of the 2005 SAE Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress & Exhibition, November 1 - 3, 2005 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago, Ill.

"SAE is fortunate and extremely excited that Peter Karlsten has agreed to be the Executive Chair for the SAE Commercial Vehicle Congress," Herb Kaufman, Director of Commercial Vehicle Business, SAE, said. "Peter's connection to the global trucking industry and Volvo's product lines, which span the truck, bus, engine and construction equipment sectors, will greatly enhance the value of this event."

Karlsten looks forward to his role in helping to plan the event. "The SAE Commercial Vehicle Congress provides a forum for industry leaders to address high-level issues demanding immediate and thoughtful consideration. I'm excited to part of an event that has such a valuable impact for our customers, our companies, and our industry. I'm certain that we can build on the successes of last year."

The inaugural SAE Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress & Exhibition was held in 2004 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. The show drew more than 3,000 attendees and 165 exhibitors in 31,000 square feet of space. The event was created to primarily serve as a networking and learning opportunity for industry professionals, including engineers, suppliers, and manufacturers from both the truck and off-highway sectors. For more information about the 2005 SAE Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress & Exhibition, visit http://www.sae.org/events/cve/ . The 2005 event will feature a banquet and other events celebrating SAE's 100th anniversary. For more information on SAE's Centennial, visit http://www.sae.org/sae100 .

SAE is a non-profit engineering and scientific organization dedicated to the advancement of mobility technology to better serve humanity. Nearly 84,000 engineers and scientists who are SAE members develop technical information on all forms of self-propelled vehicles, including automobiles, aircraft, aerospace craft, trucks, buses, marine, rail and transit machinery. This information is disseminated through SAE meetings, books, electronic products and databases, technical papers, standards, reports, and professional development programs.