ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Visteon recently opened an office in St. Petersburg, Russia, to provide an expanded level of service to its customers operating in the rapidly growing Russian market.

Key priorities for the office are to provide Visteon's customers with a local interface to Visteon's global engineering and manufacturing resources, and to be a center for new business development activities. Visteon is also in the process of building a manufacturing facility in the Kaluga region, scheduled to start production in 2010.

"With our representative office as a strong focal point, Visteon is well-positioned to build on the new business wins we have secured in Russia," said Robert Pallash, Visteon senior vice president and president, global customer groups. "As we expand our manufacturing footprint in Russia, the St. Petersburg office will play a key role in driving further business expansion in the Russian market."

Visteon's Russian representative office will be headed by Larissa Koursova. Koursova has extensive knowledge of the automotive supply industry and has previously worked at Visteon's Corporate Offices and Innovation Center in the U.S. in engineering, sales and business development positions.

For more information about Visteon, go to: http://www.visteon.com.