Dana Commercial Credit Corporation Strengthens European Presence With Paris Opening and London Expansion

    TROY, Mich., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Dana Commercial Credit Corporation
(DCC), one of the leading U.S. leasing companies and an indirect, wholly owned
subsidiary of Dana Corporation (NYSE: DCN), has further strengthened its
presence in Europe by opening an office in Paris, France, and expanding to a
second facility in Weybridge, Surrey, United Kingdom.
    J. Stephen Gagne, DCC's president and chief operating officer, said the
latest move into France will continue to bolster the company's servicing
capabilities in continental Europe, having already opened offices in
Frankfurt, Germany and Zurich, Switzerland.  Operating on the continent
under the name Dana Capital, the French unit is registered as Dana Capital
SNC.  Over the next year or so, Dana Capital plans to open additional offices
to serve customers in Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, he
added.
    In the U.K. and continental Europe markets, DCC offers a broad range of
leasing services, ranging from sales-aided vendor programs to capital
market transactions valued up to $225 million each.
    "Our goal is to become the customer-preferred leasing source in
Europe," Gagne said.  "We provide our European customers with the same level
of customer service afforded to our customers in North America.  The
cornerstones of our service both here and abroad include timeliness,
innovation, commitment and dependability.
    "It's this customer-driven approach to the leasing business that
helped us capture the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award from the U.S.
Department of Commerce last year.  This award is generally recognized as the
most prestigious award an American business can receive for performance
excellence."
    According to Gagne, DCC's customer-driven approach for Europe is
exemplified by the company's commitment to significantly reduce the time it
takes to complete commercial lease transactions.  In the growing
sales-aided leasing arena, for example, DCC will offer financing for computers
and other office automation equipment at the point-of-purchase, with an
approval time of less than one day.
    The size and growth potential of the European leasing market are the
primary reasons behind DCC's move into the region, he said.  1996 European
leasing data indicates German companies leased approximately 2.7 billion
Euro in computers and business machines last year; U.K. businesses followed
closely with some 2.5 billion Euro in such equipment; French companies leased
1.8 billion Euro; with Swiss businesses leasing 125 million Euro in computers
and business machines.
    A new entry to the European market, DCC expects to build competitive
advantages around the company's focus on aligning itself closely with the
customers' business objectives through a consultive sales approach and its
commitment to educating vendors on the benefits of offering leasing to
their business customers, Gagne said.  DCC also provides total life-cycle
management services, helping customers minimize total cost of ownership while
maximizing productivity of assets ranging from computers to forklifts.
    DCC's new office in Paris follows the recent expansion of the company's
London-based U.K. operation to include a second facility -- Case House.
Dana Commercial Credit Limited began its U.K. operations in 1989 from Woking,
Surrey, before moving to its present facility, Portmore, in Weybridge in
1993.
    "We simply outpaced our own growth forecasts," said Michael Sims,
managing director of DCC Limited.  "By adding Case House as a second facility
within a two-minute walk from Portmore, we're able to keep the synergies of
cross-functional work groups intact.  The new building houses sales,
marketing, collections, customer service and quality department personnel."
     DCC provides leasing and financing services to a broad range of
business customers in selected markets.  Activities range from capital market
transactions valued up to $225 million each, to sales-aided vendor programs
with an average ticket size of $15,000.  DCC has an international network
of offices throughout the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and
continental Europe.  In 1996, DCC received the Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
    Dana Corporation is a global leader in the engineering, manufacturing
and distribution of products and systems for the vehicular, industrial and
off-highway markets.  Founded in 1904, Dana Corporation is based in Toledo,
Ohio, and operates facilities in 30 countries with 50,000 people.  In 1996,
Dana Corporation reported sales of $7.7 billion.

SOURCE Dana Commercial Credit Corporation