Eberspacher opened its North American headquarters and research and development center in Michigan in Novi in 2002. The company engineers and manufactures exhaust systems and vehicle heating systems, both products that are produced most effectively in close proximity to an automobile's manufacturer.

Phase I of the company's 56,000-sf facility in the Brighton research manufacturing district, its first North American manufacturing plant, was the result of assistance from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. The MEDC provided a $420,000 Community Development Block Grant to the city to help finance infrastructure improvements that were needed for the new plant.

Eberspacher Group chief executive officer Gunter Baumann met at thecompany's headquarters in Esslinger, Germany, with Gov. Jennifer Granholm during her recent trade mission to Germany. "The auto industry is our foundation. It provides the perfect platform for diversifying our economy to include emerging, high-growth industries, but it also offers an opportunity to target the highest-growth automotive-related industries as well," Granholm says. "Companies like Eberspacher that recognize their products need to be close to their automotive customers, need to be in Michigan. We in Michigan need to be reaching out to those companies, and we are."