Carbon Motors™ Announces Lee Brown to Join Advisory Board

May 19, 2008

ATLANTA, Ga. — Carbon Motors Corporation announced today that Dr. Lee Patrick Brown, a longtime law enforcement leader who served in President Clinton’s cabinet as the national “drug czar” and later as mayor of Houston, has joined the company’s advisory board to help chart the development of the world’s first purpose-built vehicle for law enforcement.

Brown is the latest addition to the new automaker’s advisory board, which is comprised of key thought leaders from the worlds of law enforcement, homeland security and industrial development. He joins Tom Ridge, former secretary of homeland security, and Lee Hamilton, former congressman and vice-chair of the 9/11 Commission, in offering strategic advice to the corporation’s leadership in the development of the Carbon E7, the world’s first purpose-built law enforcement vehicle. Together, Ridge, Hamilton and Brown bring decades of experience in government leadership at the local, state and federal levels that will be essential in the vehicle’s initial design phase and its ultimate adoption throughout the law enforcement community.

“With a career that began on a police beat in California before taking him to the White House and the Houston mayor’s office, Dr. Brown knows, as well as anyone, the challenges that law enforcement faces,” said William Santana Li, chairman and chief executive officer of Carbon Motors Corporation. “Who better than a former officer and mayor to advise on how to protect and serve the public, as well as on what is needed to protect our officers in the line of duty. He knows what it means to meet a city budget; he knows what is needed to ensure safe communities for citizens; he knows what it means to give cops the tools they need to do their jobs effectively. Dr. Brown’s experience and wisdom will be enormously valuable as we bring this vehicle to full production.”

Earlier in his career, Brown served as a law enforcement leader in communities throughout the country, including as sheriff of Multnomah County, Ore. (1975-76); public safety commissioner for Atlanta (1978-82); police chief in Houston (1982-90); and New York City police commissioner (1990-92). Brown stepped onto the national stage in 1993 when President Clinton appointed him director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, where he served until 1996. The following year, Brown was elected to be the first African-American mayor of Houston, serving three terms. He was also president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), a founding member of both the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). Brown is now chairman and CEO of Brown Group International, a full-service consulting firm.

“When I served as police chief for the city of Houston in the 1980s, we pioneered the concept of community policing to get our officers out on the streets and into the neighborhoods,” said Dr. Brown. “With greater community interaction, officers have made huge progress in fighting crime, but they also need state-of-the-art tools to meet the challenges that come with the territory. The E7 promises to be a valuable crime fighting tool, and I’m honored to serve as an advisor to Carbon Motors in putting this purpose-built vehicle to work for the men and women who wear the uniform.”

As a new American automaker led by former executives from Ford Motor Company, Carbon Motors was founded to develop the E7 as a more reliable, durable, high-performance and cost-effective vehicle engineered from bumper-to-bumper and from the ground up to serve the demands of today’s law enforcement. The E7 will include:

The E7 represents a revolution in law enforcement vehicle technology. While criminal threats and law enforcement tactics have evolved to become more sophisticated over the years, the resource most critical to the majority of officers—the patrol car—has not. Most officers are still driving a vehicle designed three decades ago, which was never intended for the extreme conditions encountered during regular law enforcement operations.

The E7 has also been designed with an eye toward improving fuel efficiency and reducing emissions by an estimated 40 percent, which can be expected to result in significant savings for taxpayers and a smaller carbon footprint for law enforcement.

In addition to the advisory board, Carbon Motors has formed the Carbon Council, an online advisory group comprised of retired and active duty law enforcement professionals and government personnel who provide suggestions and feedback on the design of the E7. Over 1,200 members have joined the Carbon Council since its formation.

For additional information and to view pictures of the E7, please visit www.carbonmotors.com.