Gentex Honored by General Motors as “Supplier of the Year” for 13th Consecutive Year

For the thirteenth consecutive year and the fourteenth time overall, Gentex Corporation, the leading supplier of automatic-dimming rearview mirrors to the global automotive industry, has been named a General Motors (GM) Supplier of the Year. The 18th annual award was presented during a recent ceremony held at the GM Design Dome in Warren, Michigan.

Gentex supplies GM with interior and exterior auto-dimming mirrors, which automatically darken to reduce glare from the headlamps of vehicles approaching from the rear. The brighter the glare, the darker the mirrors become, making nighttime driving safer. Many of the mirrors also house additional electronic features, such as compass and temperature displays, microphones, and LED turn signals. Gentex’s SmartBeam(R) high beam headlamp assist system (called “Intellibeam” by GM) and Rear Camera Display (RCD) Mirror are also available on a number of GM models.

“The Supplier of the Year awards recognize the contributions of GM’s suppliers as part of the Company’s global product and performance achievements,” stated Robert Socia, GM’s Vice President of Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. “The award is always special, but the suppliers recognized this year have risen above and beyond the call during one of the most challenging years in GM history.”

In accepting the award, Gentex Chairman and CEO Fred Bauer said, “We truly value the relationship that we’ve developed with General Motors over the past 28 years. To be consistently recognized as one of their best suppliers is an honor for our organization and we are very proud of this achievement.”

The GM Supplier of the Year award program started in 1992. Winners are selected by a global team of GM executives from purchasing, engineering, manufacturing and logistics who base their decisions on supplier performance in quality, service, technology and price. This year, General Motors honored 76 companies for their outstanding performance throughout 2009.

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. More than half of the Company’s interior mirrors are sold with advanced electronic features, and more than 97 percent of the Company’s revenues are derived from the sale of auto-dimming mirrors to nearly every major automaker in the world.