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The Company | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2013
The Company | Note 1 — The Company Gentherm Incorporated is a global technology and industry leader in the design, development, and manufacturing of innovative thermal management technologies. Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “Company”, “we”, “us” and “our” used herein refer to Gentherm Incorporated and its consolidated subsidiaries. We operate in locations aligned with our major customers’ product strategies in order to provide locally enhanced design, integration and production capabilities and to identify future climatic comfort product opportunities in both automotive and other markets. We concentrate our research on the development of new technologies that will improve overall product effectiveness and customer satisfaction. We also focus on developing new design applications from our existing technologies to create new products and market opportunities for thermal comfort solutions. At the present time, the Company has three reportable segments for financial reporting purposes: Climate Controlled Seats (“CCS”), Advanced Technology and W.E.T. (“W.E.T.”). Climate Controlled Seats The CCS reporting segment includes products with variable temperature seat climate control systems designed to provide individualized thermal comfort to automobile passengers. It also includes Gentherm’s automotive heated and cooled cup holder and heated and cooled mattress product, although revenues from such products individually are not currently significant to our business. CCS does not include automotive seat comfort products that are part of the W.E.T. segment, despite similarities between some products in each segment. CCS products are primarily sold to automobile and light truck original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) or their tier one suppliers. 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 container retention features. Advanced Technology Advanced Technology is a research effort engaged in advanced research and development to improve the efficiency of thermoelectric devices and to develop, market, and distribute products based on these new technologies. See the “Research and Development” section of this report for a description of significant internal and government-sponsored research and development programs currently ongoing. W.E.T. Based in Odelzhausen, Germany, W.E.T. is a global manufacturer of automotive seat comfort systems, specialized automotive cable systems and other non-automotive product solutions. The automotive seat comfort category includes automotive seat heaters, climate comfort systems (similar to products reported within the CCS segment), steering wheel heater systems and integrated electronic components, such as blowers and electronic control units. The specialized automotive cable systems category includes ready-made wire harnesses and related wiring products. W.E.T.’s customers include passenger car OEMs, commercial vehicle OEMs, and Tier 1 seat manufacturers. Customers of W.E.T.’s other products extend beyond the automotive industry to include companies in the telecommunication, information technology and medical equipment industries. Gentherm acquire d a majority interest in W.E.T. on May 16, 2011. The acquisition was pivotal to our strategy to meet the global requirements of automotive manufacturers throughout the world. From May 16, 2011 until February 22, 2013, W.E.T. was operated as a separate entity, managed by a separate Supervisory Board, due to a legal obligation to ensure that all interactions between Gentherm and W.E.T. were in the best interest of W.E.T.’s non-controlling shareholders. On February 22, 2013, Gentherm successfully registered a Domination and Profit and Loss Transfer Agreement (DPLTA) in Germany which, under German law, enabled us to operate Gentherm and W.E.T. as essentially one company. In October 2013, Gentherm announced the registration of a squeeze-out in Germany and now owns 100 percent of the outstanding shares of W.E.T. and therefore is in full control of W.E.T. W.E.T. is being treated as an individual segment until we are able to substantially implement our integration plans.

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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 + Details
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