Contact Information: FINANCIAL MEDIA AND INVESTOR CONTACT: Connie Hamblin 616/772-1800 GENERAL MEDIA CONTACT: Craig Piersma 616/772-1800 WEBSITE: www.gentex.com
Tacoma Is First Toyota to Offer Gentex Rear Camera Display Mirror as Original Equipment
| Source: Gentex
ZEELAND, MI--(Marketwire - July 29, 2008) - Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ : GNTX ), the leading
supplier of automatic-dimming rearview mirrors to the worldwide automotive
industry, has announced that it is supplying the 2009 Toyota Tacoma with an
interior auto-dimming mirror with a rear camera display (RCD). Auto-dimming
mirrors darken automatically to eliminate glare from the headlamps of
vehicles approaching from the rear for improved nighttime driving.
The Tacoma, Toyota's compact pick-up truck, will begin featuring the Gentex
RCD Mirror on 2009 models sold in the United States and Canada. It will be
standard equipment in the TRD Off-Road, TRD Sport, and SR5 packages of both
the D-Cab and the C-Cab. The Gentex RCD contains a liquid crystal display
(LCD) that works with a video camera mounted at the rear of the vehicle to
provide a view directly behind the vehicle while backing up. When the
vehicle is shifted into "reverse," a 2.4-inch diagonal, high-resolution LCD
display appears automatically through the auto-dimming mirror's reflective
surface. The display disappears when the vehicle is shifted into any other
gear.
"This is the first Toyota vehicle to employ our RCD Mirror as
factory-installed equipment," said Enoch Jen, Gentex Senior Vice President.
"The Gentex back-up mirror system provides a cost-effective way for Toyota
to offer the feature in a location that is already used by the customer. We
are excited to partner with Toyota in bringing this technology to its North
American market."
Founded in 1974, Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ : GNTX ) is an international
company that provides high-quality products to the worldwide automotive
industry and North American fire protection market. Based in Zeeland,
Michigan, the Company develops, manufactures and markets interior and
exterior automatic-dimming automotive rearview mirrors that utilize
proprietary electrochromic technology to dim in proportion to the amount of
headlight glare from trailing vehicle headlamps. Many of the mirrors are
sold with advanced electronic features, and more than 96 percent of the
Company's revenues are derived from the sale of auto-dimming mirrors to
nearly every major automaker in the world.