Amerigon Reports 2007 Second Quarter, Six-Month Results

Year-over-Year Revenues Increase 21% and 37%, Respectively; Net Income Up 54% and 61%

NORTHVILLE, Mich., Aug. 6, 2007 -- Amerigon Incorporated , a leader in developing and marketing products based on advanced thermoelectric (TE) technologies for a wide range of global markets and applications, today announced that for its second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2007, revenues were up 21 percent and 37 percent, respectively, over the same periods in 2006, and net income rose year-over-year 54 percent and 61 percent, respectively.

Strong demand for the Company's proprietary Climate Control Seat(TM) (CCS(TM)) system drove revenues for this year's second quarter and first six months to $15.1 million and $31.3 million, respectively, up from $12.4 million and $22.9 million in last year's second quarter and first six months. Gross margins as a percentage of revenue for the 2007 second quarter improved to 34.2 percent from 31.3 percent in the prior year quarter and for the first six months of this year, gross margins were 33.1 percent, up from 31.5 percent in the year-earlier period.

Net income for this year's second quarter was $1.3 million, or $0.06 per basic and diluted share, compared with net income in last year's second quarter of $816,000, or $0.04 per basic and diluted share. Net income for the first six months of 2007 was $2.6 million, or $0.12 per basic and $0.11 per diluted share, compared with net income for the year-earlier period of $1.6 million, or $0.07 per basic and diluted share.

In this year's second quarter and first six months, Amerigon recorded a tax provision equal to 40 percent of pretax earnings, which compares to 38 percent in the prior year periods. This expense was substantially a non-cash deferred provision since the Company had significant net operating losses during its development stage that substantially offset current tax payments.

President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel R. Coker said, "We are very pleased to report that we made substantial progress during this year's second quarter as we once again increased the acceptance of our CCS system and moved forward on expanding the use of our TE technologies outside the automotive market. As we expected, revenues were down seasonally in the second quarter from the record level reported in this year's first quarter, but they were up substantially year over year and we remain on track for record breaking CCS revenues this year. During the quarter we shipped our 3 millionth CCS system, released CCS in two new vehicle models and announced that Herman Miller was introducing its all new C2(TM) personal heating and cooling unit for desktops, based upon the advanced thermoelectric technology we are developing in our BSST subsidiary."

The Company's balance sheet as of June 30, 2007 remained strong with cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $18.4 million, total assets of $46.9 million, no bank debt and shareholders' equity of $36.7 million.

Near the end of the quarter in late June, Amerigon was selected to the broad-market Russell 3000(R) Index, which means automatic inclusion for one year in the small-cap Russell 2000(R) as well as the appropriate growth and value style indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.

"I believe that the inclusion in the Russell 3000 is another indication that the investment community is recognizing the value of Amerigon, our products and the progress we continue to make, which can help broaden the market for the Company's shares," Coker said.

With the addition during the quarter of the first Jaguar and first Lexus hybrid vehicle to offer CCS, the 2008 Jaguar XJ luxury sedan and the 2008 Lexus LS 600h luxury hybrid sedan, CCS is available on 21 vehicle models produced by Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai. Coker noted that Amerigon is making excellent progress toward completing preproduction activities for additional 2008 model year vehicles and winning new contracts for future model year programs.

Unit shipments of CCS systems for the 2007 second quarter and first six months increased to 226,000 and 466,000, respectively, up from 171,000 units and 315,000 units for the year-earlier periods.

Fully diluted weighted average shares outstanding for the 2007 second quarter and six months was 22,712,000 and 22,505,000, respectively, compared with 20,114,000 and 19,219,000 in the prior year periods. Year-over-year increases principally reflect the conversion of the Company's Series A Convertible Preferred Stock to Common Shares in the first half of 2006.

Coker said that the Company's BSST subsidiary continues to be focused on expanding the use of its proprietary thermoelectric technologies and has several products under development that could ultimately lead to applications in a variety of automotive and non-automotive markets.

"An important aspect of these development programs is the work BSST is doing with select research groups and specialty materials companies to develop advanced, high performance TE materials," Coker added. He also said that BSST and these materials companies are making steady progress in the development of these new advanced TE materials.

Subsequent to the end of the quarter, Amerigon's subsidiary BSST modified its exclusive development agreement with Visteon Corporation related to the Company's proprietary TE technology for automotive applications, permitting BSST to undertake further development with a limited number of additional development partners. Coker said both companies agreed that the best way to move to the next stage with the TE technology being jointly developed by the two companies was for BSST to acquire Visteon's TE-based HVAC systems technology and seek additional partners in Asia and Europe by directly exploring opportunities with a number of other potential customers, in addition to Visteon. The cost of the acquisition of these Visteon patents was $1.5 million and has been capitalized in the Amerigon June 30, 2007 balance sheet.

BSST is now working to select additional development partners to expand the market for TE based HVAC systems in the automotive market. There will be a gap in outside funding until these new partnerships are consummated and we are aggressively focused on cost reductions at both Amerigon and BSST to offset the short term gap in funding.

Guidance for 2007

Due to the results in the first six months of 2007 and the outlook for the balance of this year, Amerigon expects to finish 2007 with a year-over-year increase in CCS revenues of 20 to 25 percent. This is an increase from the Company's previous guidance of a 15 to 20 percent year-over-year increase in CCS revenues. Profit in 2007 is expected to increase year over year, though there could be a modest impact on profit due to additional research investments required in BSST's advanced TE materials development programs. Coker also said that the Company expects even more robust growth in CCS revenue in 2008. There are a number of macro economic and geopolitical issues outside Amerigon's control, such as the effects of gas price increases and the uncertainty of the situations in the Middle East and the Gulf Region that could negatively impact the automotive industry, the overall economy and Amerigon's results.

Conference Call

As previously announced, Amerigon is conducting a conference call today to be broadcast live over the Internet at 2:00 PM Eastern Time to review the financial results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2007. The dial-in number for the call is 1-866-225-8754. The live webcast and archived replay of the call can be accessed in the Events page of the Investor section of Amerigon's website at http://www.amerigon.com/.