Exhibit 99.1

Tenneco Reports Second Quarter Financial Results

• Quarterly revenue of $1.9 billion
• Record-high second quarter EBIT of $137 million
• Net income of $87 million, up 74% from a year ago

LAKE FOREST, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 26, 2012--Tenneco Inc. (NYSE: TEN) reported second quarter net income of $87 million, or $1.42 per diluted share, versus net income of $50 million, or 81-cents per diluted share, in second quarter 2011. On an adjusted basis, net income rose to $70 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, compared with $50 million, or 81-cents per diluted share, a year ago.

Adjusted second quarter 2012 and 2011 results:

In addition to the information set forth above, the tables at the end of this press release reconcile GAAP results to non-GAAP results.

Second quarter 2012 adjustments:

• Restructuring and related expenses of $2 million pre-tax, or 2-cents per diluted share;
• Costs related to refinancing of $1 million pre-tax or 1-cent per diluted share;
• Net tax benefits of $19 million, or 31-cents per diluted share, primarily related to U.S. taxable income with no associated tax expense due to the valuation allowance on the company’s net operating loss position.

Second quarter 2011 adjustments:

• Restructuring and related expenses of $2 million pre-tax, or 2-cents per diluted share;
• Net tax benefits of $1 million, or 2-cents per diluted share, related to U.S. taxable income with no associated tax expense due to the valuation allowance on the company’s net operating loss position, partially offset by losses in certain foreign jurisdictions and adjustments to tax estimates.

Revenue

Total revenue in the quarter increased to $1.920 billion, from $1.888 billion in second quarter 2011. Revenue excluding substrate sales and currency rose 9 percent to $1.587 billion, versus $1.453 billion a year ago. Currency had a negative impact of $119 million in the quarter. The revenue increase was driven primarily by strong OE light vehicle production volumes in North America and China and incremental commercial vehicle revenue globally. In the second quarter, total OE commercial and specialty vehicle revenue increased 36 percent year-over-year to $226 million, which represented 12 percent of total revenues in the quarter, compared with 9 percent a year ago.

EBIT and EBIT Margin

EBIT (earnings before interest, taxes and noncontrolling interests) increased 21% to $137 million from $113 million in second quarter 2011. Adjusted EBIT was $139 million, a $24 million increase from a year ago, despite a negative currency impact of $13 million. EBIT improvement was driven by strong operating performance on higher light vehicle production volumes and incremental commercial vehicle revenue. The year-over-year comparison also includes lower stock-indexed compensation and lower aftermarket customer changeover costs.

The company reported the following EBIT as a percent of revenue and EBIT as a percent of value-add revenue (revenue excluding substrate sales).

“Tenneco delivered another quarter of revenue growth by leveraging higher light vehicle volumes in North America and China, performing well in a challenging production environment in Europe, posting solid results from our North America aftermarket business and benefiting from incremental commercial vehicle revenue,” stated Gregg Sherrill, chairman and CEO, Tenneco. “I’m particularly pleased with our margin improvement driven by strong operational performance, especially considering the significant currency headwinds.”

Cash

Cash generated from operations was $86 million in the quarter, a $19 million year-over-year improvement from the year ago quarter on the strength of higher earnings and effective working capital management.

Tenneco continues to strategically invest in growth with capital expenditures in the quarter of $62 million, up from $47 million the prior year. The majority of spending was in the North America and Europe OE businesses to support new light and commercial vehicle customer program launches, and in Asia to accommodate new programs and new customers.

During the second quarter, Tenneco completed a previously announced stock buyback plan, repurchasing 600,000 shares of its outstanding common stock for $18 million, to offset dilution from shares issued to employees in 2012.

Debt

Tenneco’s net debt at June 30, 2012 was $1.185 billion, versus $1.133 billion the prior year. The leverage ratio (net debt to adjusted LTM EBITDA including noncontrolling interests) was 1.9x, down from 2.0x a year ago.

SECOND QUARTER REPORTING SEGMENTS

NORTH AMERICA

North America EBIT increased 39% to $86 million compared with $62 million one year ago. On an adjusted basis, EBIT was $86 million versus $63 million despite the impact of $6 million in currency transaction losses year-over-year. EBIT performance was driven primarily by strong operational performance on higher volumes, particularly in the OE emissions control business including the commercial vehicle segment. EBIT this quarter also included lower aftermarket changeover costs.

EUROPE, SOUTH AMERICA AND INDIA

Europe, South America and India EBIT was $32 million compared with $37 million a year ago. On an adjusted basis, EBIT was $34 million versus $38 million. Currency had a $9 million unfavorable impact on EBIT. EBIT was driven by strong operational performance in the Europe OE businesses in the face of weak industry volumes, and negatively impacted by lower production volumes in South America and declines in the Europe aftermarket.

ASIA PACIFIC

Asia Pacific EBIT rose 36% to $19 million compared with $14 million last year. Currency had a $2 million favorable impact on Asia Pacific segment EBIT. EBIT was driven by higher volumes on new light vehicle platforms in China and operating improvements in Australia.

OUTLOOK

IHS Automotive predicts higher year-over-year light vehicle production in most of Tenneco’s markets except Europe. IHS forecasts* indicate that global light vehicle production is expected to rise 2% year-over-year in the second half of 2012, with North America increasing 6%, China up 7%, South America up 13% and India up 2%.

Light vehicle production in Europe is forecasted to decline 7% year-over-year, which the company expects to partially offset with a strong customer and platform mix in its OE emissions control business. As over the last several quarters, economic weakness will continue to drag on the European aftermarket business.

Stronger North America vehicle production, particularly in the company’s OE emission control business, is expected to drive solid year-over-year revenue growth. The company expects its North America aftermarket revenues will be roughly the same as last year’s very strong third quarter.

In China, stronger year-over-year OE volume is expected to continue driving growth for the Asia Pacific segment.

The weakening global economic conditions are having somewhat more of an effect on commercial vehicle production schedules. While Tenneco will experience very strong commercial vehicle revenue growth for 2012, due to these slower production schedules commercial vehicle revenues are now expected to be closer to the first half run rate than the company’s forecast in the beginning of the year. Tenneco continues to successfully launch and grow its commercial vehicle business and today is announcing three new commercial vehicle business wins in Europe and India.

“Our technology-driven emission control strategy continues to drive our business globally, and despite current economic headwinds, Tenneco remains on track for revenue growth, margin improvement and record earnings in 2012 with continued outstanding growth opportunities going forward,” added Sherrill.

*IHS Automotive production forecast as of July 17, 2012.

CONFERENCE CALL

The company will host a conference call on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. ET. The dial-in number is 888-603-9213 (domestic) or 312-470-7158 (international). The passcode is TENNECO. The call and accompanying slides will be available on the financial section of the Tenneco web site at www.tenneco.com. A recording of the call will be available one hour following completion of the call on July 26, 2012 through August 26, 2012. To access this recording, dial 800-841-8609 (domestic) or 402-280-9935 (international). The purpose of the call is to discuss the company’s operations for the quarter, as well as other matters that may impact the company’s outlook. A copy of the press release is available on the financial and news sections of the Tenneco web site.

Tenneco is a $7.2 billion global manufacturing company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois and approximately 24,000 employees worldwide. Tenneco is one of the world’s largest designers, manufacturers and marketers of emission control and ride control products and systems for automotive and commercial vehicle original equipment markets and the aftermarket. Tenneco markets its products principally under the Monroe®, Walker® and Clevite®Elastomer brand names.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Words such as “may,” “expects,” “anticipate,” ”projects,” “will,” and “outlook” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations of the company (including its subsidiaries). Because these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, the company's plans, actions and actual results could differ materially. Among the factors that could cause these plans, actions and results to differ materially from current expectations are:

(i) general economic, business and market conditions;

(ii) the company’s ability to source and procure needed materials, components and other products and services in accordance with customer demand and at competitive prices;

(iii) changes in capital availability or costs, including increases in the company's costs of borrowing (i.e., interest rate increases), the amount of the company's debt, the ability of the company to access capital markets at favorable rates, and the credit ratings of the company’s debt;

(iv) changes in consumer demand, prices and the company’s ability to have our products included on top selling vehicles, including any shifts in consumer preferences to lower margin vehicles, for which we may or may not have supply arrangements;

(v) changes in automotive and commercial vehicle manufacturers' production rates and their actual and forecasted requirements for the company's products such as the significant production cuts during recent years by automotive manufacturers in response to difficult economic conditions;

(vi) the overall highly competitive nature of the automobile and commercial vehicle parts industries, and any resultant inability to realize the sales represented by the company’s awarded book of business which is based on anticipated pricing and volumes over the life of the applicable program;

(vii) the loss of any of our large original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) customers (on whom we depend for a substantial portion of our revenues), or the loss of market shares by these customers if we are unable to achieve increased sales to other OEMs or any change in customer demand due to delays in the adoption or enforcement of worldwide emissions regulations;

(viii) workforce factors such as strikes or labor interruptions;

(ix) increases in the costs of raw materials, including the company’s ability to successfully reduce the impact of any such cost increases through materials substitutions, cost reduction initiatives, customer recovery and other methods;

(x) the negative impact of higher fuel prices on transportation and logistics costs, raw material costs and discretionary purchases of vehicles or aftermarket products;

(xi) the cyclical nature of the global vehicular industry, including the performance of the global aftermarket sector and longer product lives of automobile parts;

(xii) the company's continued success in cost reduction and cash management programs and its ability to execute restructuring and other cost reduction plans and to realize anticipated benefits from these plans;

(xiii) product warranty costs;

(xiv) the cost and outcome of existing and any future legal proceedings;

(xv) economic, exchange rate and political conditions in the countries where we operate or sell our products;

(xvi) the company's ability to develop and profitably commercialize new products and technologies, and the acceptance of such new products and technologies by the company's customers and the market;

(xvii) changes by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or other accounting regulatory bodies to authoritative generally accepted accounting principles or policies;

(xviii) changes in accounting estimates and assumptions, including changes based on additional information;

(xix) governmental actions, including the ability to receive regulatory approvals and the timing of such approvals, as well as the impact of the enforcement of, changes to or compliance with laws and regulations, including those pertaining to environmental concerns, pensions or other regulated activities;

(xx) natural disasters, acts of war and/or terrorism and the impact of these occurrences or acts on economic, financial, industrial and social condition, including, without limitation, with respect to supply chains and customer demand in the countries where the company operates; and

(xxi) the timing and occurrence (or non-occurrence) of transactions and events which may be subject to circumstances beyond the control of the company and its subsidiaries.

The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release. Additional information regarding these risk factors and uncertainties is detailed from time to time in the company's SEC filings, including but not limited to its report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011.

CONTACT:
Tenneco Inc.
Media inquiries
Bill Dawson, 847 482-5807
bdawson@tenneco.com
or
Investor inquiries
Linae Golla, 847 482-5162
lgolla@tenneco.com