Westport Announces Amended Cummins Westport Joint Venture Agreement

~Westport and Cummins Agree on New Focus for CWI; Announce Launch of New CWI HD Engine; Conference Call to Follow~

VANCOUVER, Feb. 20, 2012 /CNW/ - Westport Innovations Inc. (TSX: WPT) (NASDAQ: WPRT), the global leader in natural gas engines, today announced that it has entered into an amended and restated joint venture agreement (JVA) with Cummins Inc. for the Cummins Westport Inc. (CWI) joint venture. The JVA was amended to provide for, among other things, clarification concerning the scope of products within CWI. In addition, the parties have revised certain economic terms of the JVA.

In a separate announcement, CWI today announced the commercial launch of a new 12 litre natural gas engine based on the successful Cummins ISX12 diesel platform. The new engine incorporates the same industry leading combustion technology as CWI's most successful engine, the 8.9 litre ISL G. The new ISX12 G is currently in field trials with production expected to commence in early 2013. CWI will market this new engine in North America, and Cummins will have the option of developing international versions of this new engine for markets outside North America. The new engine will be manufactured in Cummins' Jamestown, New York Engine Plant.

"Over the past 10 years, CWI has emerged as the pre-eminent supplier of high performance natural gas engines for commercial vehicles," said David Demers, CEO of Westport Innovations. "With this new agreement, we have taken the necessary steps to provide CWI with a platform for continued growth and success over the next 10 years, while recognizing the dramatically increased interest in natural gas as a fuel."

Details of Amended Joint Venture Agreement
Under the prior JVA, CWI had a global exclusive right to design, engineer, and market mid-range on-road spark-ignited natural gas engines based on Cummins diesel engines manufactured in Cummins facilities. Cummins and Westport have agreed in the amended and restated JVA to focus CWI's future product development on North American markets including engines for on-road applications between the displacement range of 5.9 litres through 12 litres, and to have these engines manufactured in Cummins North American plants.

Westport will appoint the President for the first three-year term. The chairman will be Ed Pence, Cummins Vice President and General Manager - Heavy Duty Engine Business.

The joint venture will now have a term of ten years. The JVA can be terminated under certain circumstances before the end of the term, including in the event of a material breach of the agreement by, or in the event of a change of control of one of the parties.

Live Conference Call & Webcast
Westport has scheduled a conference call for tomorrow, Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 5:00am Pacific Time (8:00am Eastern Time) to discuss this announcement. The public is invited to listen to the conference call in real time by telephone or webcast. To access the conference call by telephone, please dial: 1-800-319-4610 (Canada & USA toll-free) or 604-638-5340. The live webcast of the conference call can be accessed through the Westport website at www.westport.com/investors. To access the conference call replay, please dial 1-800-319-6413 (Canada & USA toll-free) or 604-638-9010 using the pass code 5261. The replay will be available until February 28, 2012. Shortly after the conference call, the webcast will be archived on the Company's website and replay will be available in streaming audio.

About Westport Innovations Inc.
Westport Innovations Inc. is a leading global supplier of proprietary solutions that allow engines to operate on clean-burning fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen, and renewable natural gas (RNG) fuels such as landfill gas and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Westport technology offers advanced LNG fueling systems with direct injection natural gas engine technology for heavy-duty vehicles such as highway trucks and off-road applications such as mining and rail.  Westport's joint venture with Cummins Inc., Cummins Westport Inc. designs, engineers and markets spark-ignited natural gas engines for North American urban work vehicles such as buses and refuse trucks. Westport LD division is one of the global leaders for natural gas and LPG fuel in passenger cars, light-duty trucks and industrial applications such as forklifts. To learn more about our business, visit our website or subscribe to our RSS feed at www.westport.com, or follow us on Twitter @WestportWPRT.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the anticipated benefits for each of Westport and CWI arising out of the amended and restated joint venture agreement, the anticipated timing and success of the launch of the new 12 litre  engine from CWI and its effect on CWI sales, the demand for our products, the future success of our business and technology strategies, investment, cash and capital requirements, intentions of partners and potential customers (including Cummins and CWI), the performance and competitiveness of Westport's and CWI's products and expansion of product coverage, future market opportunities, speed of adoption of natural gas for transportation and terms of future agreements as well as Westport management's response to any of the aforementioned factors. In particular, the benefits arising out of the amended and restated joint venture agreement depend on many factors and may be affected by, amongst other things, the limitations and restrictions on market scope for CWI and Westport's use of CWI's intellectual property.  These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on assumptions that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activities, performance or achievements expressed in or implied by these forward looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include risks and assumptions related to our revenue growth, operating results, industry and products, the general economy, conditions of and access to the capital and debt markets, governmental policies and regulation, technology innovations, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates,  the availability and price of natural gas,  global government stimulus packages, the acceptance of and shift to natural gas vehicles in fleet markets, the relaxation or waiver of fuel emission standards, the inability of fleets to access capital or government funding to purchase natural gas vehicles, the sufficiency of bio methane for use in our vehicles, the development of competing technologies as well as other risk factors and assumptions that may affect our actual results, performance or achievements or financial position discussed in our most recent Annual Information Form and other filings with securities regulators. Readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise such statements to reflect any change in our expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in these forward looking statements except as required by National Instrument 51-102. The contents of any website, RSS feed or Twitter account referenced in this press release are not incorporated by reference herein.

Inquiries:
Darren Seed
Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications
Westport Innovations Inc.
Phone: [phone]
Email: [email protected]