Country Living's 2006 House of the Year to Debut on A&E

Country Living's 2006 House of the Year to Debut on A&E

Champion-built house featured in historic Auburndale, Fla.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Champion Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:CHB), a leader in the factory-built housing industry, today announced that Country Living magazine's 2006 House of the Year, a Genesis modular home, will be featured on A&E Network on Sunday, January 22, 2006 at 4 p.m. Eastern and Saturday, January 28th at 10 a.m. Eastern as part of a one-hour television special. The 2,537 square foot modular home was designed and built in collaboration with Genesis Homes, a division of Champion Enterprises.

"The 2006 House of the Year project combines a blend of classic American style and personalized comfort with the quality and ease of a modular home," said Country Living Editor-in-Chief Nancy Soriano. "We've brought the pages of the magazine to life and Country Living is thrilled to once again partner with Genesis, a company well known for its superior value, innovative design and construction."

The 2006 House of the Year is designed to reflect the comfortable, casual lifestyle that Country Living's readers desire. After construction, the magazine's editors selected all furniture, antiques and furnishings to decorate the home.

Country Living worked with Genesis to select the location for its 2006 house and Genesis' manufacturing plant in Lake City, Florida, was then tapped to build the home. Sitting on Lake Ariana, in historic Auburndale, Fla., the House of the Year project provides an opportunity for the magazine and Genesis to explore the collaboration of American architecture and design, and bring historical elements and references into modern-day life.

"Our passion for excellence in construction and detail meshes well with the traditional style of Country Living," said Kevin Flaherty, vice president of sales and marketing for Genesis Homes. "Off-site-built homes are in more demand recently because of the high degree of sophisticated architecture and design available to meet individual wants and needs, delivery is very fast and the home is more ruggedly constructed. In fact, the Country Living house only took one week to build in our factory and we exceeded Florida's strict hurricane regulations, while building a beautiful, historically sensitive house. Homebuyers are beginning to realize that modular construction is simply another way to build their dream homes."

Country Living is the No. 1 selling shelter magazine at newsstand. It focuses on a variety of topics including decorating, antiques, cooking, travel, remodeling and gardens. Country Living is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of The Hearst Corporation (http://www.hearst.com/ ), one of the world's largest publishers of monthly magazines, with a total of 19 U.S. titles and 145 international editions. Hearst's magazines are read by more adults than any other monthly magazine publisher. The company also publishes 19 magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited.

Genesis Homes, a member of the Champion Enterprises, Inc. family of homebuilders, is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Genesis operates nine modular homebuilding facilities strategically located to serve builders and developers nationwide. To learn more, visit http://www.genesishomes.com/ . Champion Enterprises is a leading manufacturer of factory-built housing and has produced more than 1.6 million homes since 1953. Today, Champion operates 32 manufacturing facilities in North America and partners with nearly 3,000 independent retailers, builders and developers. For more information, please visit http://www.championhomes.net/ .

Source: Champion Enterprises, Inc.

CONTACT: Investor Contact: Lisa D. Lettieri, Vice President of Investor
Relations of Champion Enterprises, +1-248-340-7731,
llettieri@championhomes.net ; Media Contacts: Tim Hanson or Paul Kesman of
Identity Investor Relations, +1-248-258-2333, chb@identitypr.com ; or Michelle
Alvarez of Country Living, +1-212-649-2165, mmalvarez@hearst.com

Web site: http://www.championhomes.net/
http://www.genesishomes.com/
http://www.hearst.com/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/110861.html

-------
Profile: intent