Auto-Dimming Mirror Supplier Gentex Corporation Opens Office in Yokohama

ZEELAND, Mich., Jan. 12, 2005 -- Gentex Corporation , the U.S.-based supplier of automatic-dimming mirrors to the worldwide automotive industry, has opened a satellite office in Yokohama, Japan. The new office will help Gentex provide expanded sales and engineering support to its Asian customers in Tokyo and the entire Kanto region.

Gentex now operates two offices in Japan, the first of which opened in 1998 in Nagoya. With this new Yokohama office, combined with additional resources at the Nagoya office, the Company has increased ability to support Japanese automakers and Tier One mirror suppliers globally.

Gentex is best known for its 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. Gentex mirrors often come integrated with additional electronic features such as compass and temperature displays, map lights, headlamp control sensors, microphones, garage door openers -- even sophisticated light sensors that automate high-beam usage.

"More than half of our total annual mirror-unit shipments are to automotive manufacturers headquartered outside the U.S.," said Gentex Executive Vice President Garth Deur. "Our Asian business is growing rapidly, and our expanded support of customers in that region directly reflects the increased application of auto-dimming mirrors on Japanese-branded vehicles that are built and sold globally."

Founded in 1974, Gentex Corporation (The Nasdaq Stock Market: 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 95 percent of the Company's revenues are derived from the sales of auto-dimming mirrors to nearly every major automaker in the world.