ARGN Gentherm, Inc. (MM)

NORTHVILLE, Mich., March 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Amerigon Incorporated (NASDAQ-GS: ARGN), the global market leader and a developer of innovative thermal management technologies, today announced that it has promoted three veteran managers to three newly-created Vice President positions to help oversee its expanding global business.

Brent W. Jump was promoted to Vice President of Purchasing; John Marx was promoted to Vice President of Business Planning and Advanced Product Commercialization and Marco Ranalli, was promoted to Vice President, Advanced Products and Managing Director for Amerigon Europe GmbH.

President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel R. Coker said, "As we continue to expand our global business these three trusted members of our team will help ensure that our product initiatives and processes properly position us to meet our current and future customers' needs.  Brent, John and Marco have already demonstrated that they understand the global automotive industry and the needs of our customers and the marketplace.  Each of them will play an important role in the creation of a more robust thermal technology company."

Jump will continue to directly interface with the Company's customers, vendors and strategic partners and his duties will encompass all planning, inventory, purchasing and logistics functions. Based in the Northville, MI office, he will continue to report directly to Coker.  Jump, who joined Amerigon in 2004 as Purchasing and Logistics Manager, brought nine years of experience in manufacturing, purchasing and product management.  Prior to joining Amerigon, he worked in Core Purchasing at Ford Motor Company.  He holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University and a master's degree in information systems from Wayne State University.

Marx will continue to lead Amerigon's Business Planning function and Global Advanced Commercialization initiatives.  He will continue to report directly to Coker.  Marx joined Amerigon in 2009 as the Global Director of Product Strategy and Business Planning.  Prior to that, Marx was the Global Product Strategy Director for Visteon's exterior lighting business.  His background includes more than 20 years of automotive and aerospace experience at Ford Motor Company/Visteon and Ford Aerospace Communications Corp. where he held various management positions in product strategy, business planning, marketing, product innovation, program management, finance and manufacturing. Marx has a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of California – Berkeley, and an MBA in Marketing from Michigan State University.

Ranalli will continue his responsibilities as the Managing Director of Amerigon Europe GmbH, reporting to Coker, where he is responsible for technical support, product development, application engineering and prototype development in support of European sales.  Additionally, he will have responsibility for coordinating global advanced product initiatives.  Ranalli came to Amerigon in 2010 from EMCON Technologies, now part of Faurecia, an automotive equipment supplier of automotive seating, emissions control technologies, interior systems and automotive exteriors, where he was Director, Global Advanced Engineering.

About Amerigon

Amerigon (NASDAQ-GS:ARGN) is a global developer and marketer of innovative thermal management technologies for a broad range of heating and cooling and temperature control applications. Automotive products based on technologies developed by Amerigon and its majority-owned subsidiary, W.E.T. Automotive Systems AG, include actively heated and cooled seat systems and cup holders, heated and ventilated seat systems, thermal storage bins, heated seat and steering wheel systems, cable systems and other electronic devices. Its advanced technology team is developing more efficient materials for thermoelectrics and systems for waste heat recovery and electrical power generation for the automotive market that may have far-reaching applications for consumer products as well as industrial and technology markets. Amerigon has more than 5,000 employees in facilities in the U.S., Germany, Mexico, China, Canada, Japan, England, Korea and the Ukraine.  For more information, go to www.amerigon.com.

Certain matters discussed in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may be different.  Important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from its expectations in this release are risks that sales may not significantly increase, additional financing, if necessary, may not be available, new competitors may arise and adverse conditions in the automotive industry may negatively affect its results.  The liquidity and trading price of its common stock may be negatively affected by these and other factors.  Please also refer to Amerigon's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings and reports, including, but not limited to, its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011; all of which are available free of charge on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Amerigon expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Amerigon Incorporated