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The Company | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2012
The Company | Note 1 — The Company Gentherm Incorporated is a leading supplier of thermal seat comfort and cable systems to the global automotive industry. Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “Company”, “we”, “us” and “our” used herein refer to Gentherm Incorporated. The term “historical Gentherm” used herein excludes W.E.T. Automotive Systems AG (“W.E.T.”), a subsidiary of Gentherm, Inc. See Note 3 regarding the acquisition of W.E.T. The Company performs design, development and manufacturing functions in locations aligned with our major customers’ product strategies in order to continue to grow and expand our business around the globe. We are working to expand application of our existing technologies into new markets and products and to develop and refine new technologies to make our existing products more efficient. Historical Gentherm’s primary business is the sale of the Climate Control SeatTM (“CCS TM or “CCS”) products to automobile and light truck original equipment manufacturers or their tier one suppliers. CCS provides year-round comfort to automotive seat occupants through both heating and cooling functions. Since the initial introduction of CCS we have introduced new designs that incorporated improvements in electrical efficiency, size, weight, noise and versatility. These include our Micro Thermal Module™ (“MTM™” or “MTM”) technology, our CCS II configuration, and a heated and ventilated only variant of the CCS (“HV”). The HV relies on the use of ambient cabin air to provide cooling comfort instead of a thermo electric device (“TED”), like that found on our MTM and CCS II products. Further improvements in engineering design are currently in development and are expected to be introduced on future vehicle models. The Company has also introduced an automotive heated and cooled cup holder and a heated and cooled suite of luxury mattresses to its product portfolio based on technology similar to that of the CCS system. The cup holder has been designed to be packaged in multiple configurations to accommodate different console environments. In addition to requiring low power consumption, it has proven automotive grade ruggedness, high reliability and drink retention features. The Company is also engaged in a program to improve the efficiency of TEDs and to develop, market and distribute new products based on this technology. Included in this initiative is the development and testing of new materials that show increased thermoelectric efficiency. On October 1, 2010 we formed Gentherm Europe, GmbH (“Gentherm Europe”) and opened a technical support office in Augsburg, Germany, to provide design initiatives, product development, application engineering and prototype builds in support of European sales. As described in Note 3, the Company acquired a majority interest in W.E.T., a German publicly-traded company based in Odelzhausen, Germany on May 16, 2011. W.E.T. was established in 1968 and currently employs over 6,000 individuals at 14 locations. W.E.T.’s customers include passenger car OEMs, commercial vehicle OEMs and Tier 1 seat manufacturers. W.E.T.’s major product categories include automotive seat comfort systems and specialized automotive cable systems. The automotive seat comfort systems category includes automotive seat heaters, climate comfort systems (similar to Gentherm’s climate controlled seat technology) for automotive seats, automotive steering wheel heater systems and integrated electronic components. The specialized automotive cable systems category includes ready-made wire harnesses and related wiring products. W.E.T. has been a manufacturer in the seat comfort segment since 1973. While W.E.T.’s primary focus is on automotive original equipment markets, W.E.T. also offers product solutions to other customer groups, namely customer groups related to seat heating equipment for the automotive aftermarket, ski lifts and sports stadiums. These operations complement W.E.T.’s automotive seat comfort products, particularly in seat climate comfort systems in which ventilation systems are an integral part of the final product. Furthermore, W.E.T.’s customer base for other products extends beyond the automotive industry to the telecommunications and information technology industries. W.E.T. maintains a global operational structure with manufacturing sites close to its key customers. W.E.T.’s European operations are primarily concentrated around its headquarters and customer service center in Odelzhausen, as well as its Hungarian and Ukrainian sites. W.E.T. operates four sites in North America, a customer service and research center located in Windsor, Canada, a warehouse facility located in Del Rio, Texas and two production sites located in Acuña, Mexico. In Asia, W.E.T. operates a low-cost production facility including customer service and research and development functions in Langfang, China and maintains representative offices in Seoul, South Korea and Tokyo, Japan. W.E.T.’s China operation was established in 2003 and serves the South Korean, Japanese, Chinese and certain European markets.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, the major products or services it sells or provides and its principal markets, including the locations of those markets. If the entity operates in more than one business, the disclosure also indicates the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination (for example, assets, revenues, or earnings). + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 275 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6927468&loc=d3e6003-108592 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher AICPA -Name Statement of Position (SOP) -Number 94-6 -Paragraph 10 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. + Details
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