The multi-story facility will be composed of office, prototype assembly, laboratory, and testing areas. A three-phase building program is expected to allow the Technical Center to reach 100,000 sf, with the future ability to increase to 215,000 sf.Ultimately, as many as 500 employees from at least seven Kolbenschmidt Pierburg auto divisions from around the world may be brought to the new location.

Sandra Knight, a spokeswoman for Albert Kahn, said it's too early to discern the cost of the development. Pierburg Instruments Inc., a division of Kolbenschmidt Pierburg, employs 45 employees at its current location, a 28,000-sf, leased office and manufacturing space, also in Auburn Hills.

Kolbenschmidt Pierburg AG designs and manufactures systems for internal combustion engines, and posted sales of $1.6 billion in 1999. It is a division of Rheinmetall Group, a German corporation with sales of $4.8 billion.