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mulators for its Taurus and Cougar models and production on these will start later this summer. In 1997, General Motors came on board as a customer when it asked Halla to start B supplying a rear air conditioner module to provide cool air to the rear of its larger sport utility vehicles. About 250,000 such units are produced annually now. General Motors, in fact, awarded Halla with the Supplier of the Year award in 1997 "because we were able to bring the component to the market in a very short period of time. That proved our engineering and manufacturing capability to GM and we've been rewarded with additional contracts." Halla purchased its 360 University Ave. facility in 1997 and a year later almost tripled the space to 130,000 square feet in order to meet production demands. In late 1999, Halla started producing under-body lines (aluminum and rubber tubing that carries refrigerant from the front of vehicles to the air conditioning system located at the rear of large SUVs). Three million such units ; are now manufactured annually at its two plants. Its success with the under-body lines has earned Halla the GM Supplier of the j Year award for 2000. Halla isn't resting on its laurels. Later this spring, it will start producing the under-body lines for the new Ford Explorer and Allen expects production to reach one million units a year. Also in the coming months, Halla will|j begin manufacturing rear air condi-J tioning units for GM's Blazers and Jimjnys and a compressor clutch for the Ford Explorer. And toward the end of 2001, production will start on a new air conditioning component for Saturn. "The reason we're in Belleville and why we will remain here is because of the extremely dedicated, hard-working and capable people who are part of our team," said Allen. INTELLIGENCER PHOTO BY HENRY BURY Halla controller Michael Allen in the research and development lab.