ZEELAND, MI -- (Marketwire) -- 10/01/09 -- Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX), the leading supplier of automatic-dimming rearview mirrors to the worldwide automotive industry, has announced that it is shipping auto-dimming interior rearview mirrors with its Rear Camera Display (RCD) feature for the new Daihatsu Mira Cocoa mini-passenger vehicle in Japan. The Cocoa is in the "Kei" vehicle segment, a Japanese category of small automobiles, including passenger cars, vans and pickup trucks, representing about one-third of the automotive market in Japan. This is the first time that auto-dimming mirrors have been offered in the mini-passenger vehicle segment anywhere in the world.

The Gentex RCD Mirror is standard equipment on the Cocoa "Plus G" trim level, and is part of a package on the Cocoa "X" trim level. The auto-dimming RCD Mirror contains a liquid crystal display (LCD) that works with an automaker-specified 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 display appears automatically through the auto-dimming mirror's reflective surface. The display disappears when the vehicle is shifted into any other gear, a capability that is made possible utilizing Gentex's "transflective" coating and lighting techniques, resulting in a bright, high-resolution color image.

"Daihatsu Motor Company produces small, economical autos, and we are pleased that Daihatsu will broadly offer our auto-dimming and RCD mirror features on this new, small vehicle model," said Gentex Senior Vice President Enoch Jen. "This is our first program with Daihatsu, and we believe that this business award is further evidence that automakers everywhere recognize that Gentex technologies are cost-effective and efficient ways to provide driver safety, comfort and convenience in all market segments and all vehicle markets."

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 96 percent of the Company's revenues are derived from the sale of auto-dimming mirrors to nearly every major automaker in the world.