PLYMOUTH, Mich. — Brembo North America is celebrating the grand opening  of its corporate headquarters and technical center in Plymouth, Mich.

The company confirmed Brembo’s commitment to the North American market to better serve its customers by offering a full array of specialty services from design to manufacturing.

“Today’s celebration is the culmination of many years of strong growth at Brembo,” said Daniel Sandberg, president and CEO of Brembo North America. “It is also the beginning of even greater accomplishments for Brembo in Michigan and North America."

Along with Brazil, Europe, China and India, Brembo views North America as one of its key markets. The new facility, home of the new Research and Development Center, will provide a full array of design and development, engineering, sales and distribution support for Brembo’s customers in North America. Brembo’s new Research and Development Center will foster the advancement of state-of-the-art products,  such as aluminum calipers and lightweight rotors, while also supporting Brembo’s customers’  need for economic savings and reduction of CO2 emissions.

Brembo also announced that its Homer, Mich., operations would begin production and final assembly of corner modules and caliper assemblies for high-performance vehicles starting in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Brembo has long been acknowledged as a world leader in the design, development and production of high performance braking systems and components. Teams equipped with Brembo brakes have won numerous auto and motorcycle racing championships including Formula 1, Indy Car and NASCAR.

While the company has always had a strong presence in the North American market due to its significant European-based OE applications, BNA’s recent growth was spurred by two events: the purchase of Hayes Lemmerz’ Automotive Brake Component division in November of 2007 and the substantial growth of U.S.-based Original Equipment.

Recently, Brembo achieved preferential supplier status with Ford.