Crimson Fire Announces Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for New South Dakota Fire Truck Facility

Nov. 17, 2004
Fire truck maker Crimson Fire, Inc. will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Brandon, S.D. on Thursday, November 18 at 4:30 p.m.
BRANDON, South Dakota, November 17, 2004 - Fire truck maker Crimson Fire, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spartan Motors, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPAR), will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Brandon, S.D. on Thursday, November 18 at 4:30 p.m.

The new 32,000-square-foot facility doubles Crimson Fire's capacity at its corporate headquarters in Brandon and allows it to add new equipment, improve its manufacturing process, and grow its capacity to meet increasing demand for fire truck products.

Spartan Motors Chairman David Wilson, CEO John Sztykiel and Crimson Fire President Jeff Lautt will host the ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house, and will be joined by local and state dignitaries, the Brandon Chamber of Commerce and key customer representatives.

"Our order backlog has grown steadily over the past two years as our investments in new products and dealer network expansion have generated new customers for Crimson Fire," said Jeff Lautt. "This new facility meets an important need, adding new technology and manufacturing capacity to continue our growth."

Crimson Fire Facility Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony & Open House
Thursday, November 18, 2004
4:30 p.m.
1209 East Birch Street - Brandon, S.D.
Crimson Fire said it has begun production of its Star Series(tm) and E-Series fire trucks in the new facility, and has implemented a new cell-based manufacturing system that is already paying dividends in operating efficiency and quality control. Crimson Fire reported it has added 40 jobs in 2004 to support its South Dakota operations and to staff the new facility.

"This new facility addresses our market share gains and is also critical as our Crimson Fire Aerials initiative takes hold and we begin to see growing acceptance for our innovative aerial product," said Lautt.

About Crimson Fire
Crimson Fire, a Spartan Motors company, is a leading manufacturer of custom fire trucks and other rescue vehicles, representing quality, value and innovation. Crimson Fire was established in 2003, when Spartan Motors, Inc. merged its two fire apparatus subsidiaries, Quality Manufacturing and Luverne Fire Apparatus. The Company now draws on more than 130 years of excellence in fire truck manufacturing. Crimson Fire manufactures pumpers, rescues, aerials, quick-attack vehicles and other fire and rescue trucks from facilities in Alabama, Pennsylvania and South Dakota. For more information on Crimson Fire, visit www.crimson-fire.com.

About Spartan Motors
Spartan Motors, Inc. (www.spartanmotors.com) designs, engineers and manufactures custom chassis and vehicles for the recreational vehicle, fire truck, ambulance and emergency-rescue markets. The company's brand names - Spartan(r), Crimson Fire(r) and Road Rescue(r) - are known in their market niches for quality, value, service and being the first to market with innovative products. Spartan Motors employs approximately 700 at facilities in Michigan, Alabama, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and South Dakota is publicly traded on The NASDAQ Stock Market under the ticker symbol SPAR.

The statements contained in this news release include certain predictions and projections that may be considered "forward-looking statements" under the securities laws. These forward-looking statements are identifiable by words or phrases indicating that the Company or management "expects," "believes" or is "confident" that a particular result "may" or "should" occur, that a particular item "bodes well," that the Company "looks forward" to a particular result, or similar statements. These statements involve many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including but not limited to economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors affecting the Company's operations, markets, products, services and prices. Accounting estimates are inherently forward-looking. Additional information about these and other factors that may adversely affect these forward-looking statements are contained in the Company's reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect developments or information obtained after the date of this news release.

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