Amerigon and Mattress Firm, Inc. Launch Luxury Heated/Cooled Mattress Line

NORTHVILLE, Mich. and HOUSTON, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Amerigon Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARGN), a leader in developing and marketing products based on advanced thermoelectric (TE) technologies, and Mattress Firm, Inc., one of the nation's leading specialty mattress retailers with more than 580 locations across 22 states, announced today that they have launched an aggressive sales and marketing campaign for their new suite of actively heated and cooled luxury mattresses with a display and demonstration at the State Fair of Texas.  The State Fair of Texas which runs September 24 through October 17 will be held at Fair Park in Dallas and is the largest state fair in the United States in annual attendance.  

The mattresses are available in all three Mattress Firm booths at the State Fair; however, the largest display is located in the Centennial Building (Booth #1). Following a preview in Austin, TX, earlier this week, the mattresses are also now available in Mattress Firm retail locations in that city.  A nationwide roll out of the line of mattresses is expected early next year.  

The mattresses provide individual controls via two wireless remotes to actively heat and cool each side of the mattress independently using Amerigon's TE technology which has proven its success and popularity with consumers in Amerigon's heated and cooled seat systems in the automotive market.  The company's automotive seat systems are available on 49 vehicle lines produced by Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia and Jaguar/Land Rover, with more than 6.1 million units sold.

The new mattresses sold under the brand name YuMe™ will be available in King and Queen sizes and starting retail is approximately $3,999.  

"We believe Amerigon's success in the auto industry creates an exceptional opportunity to fill a void in the mattress industry," said Steve Stagner, Mattress Firm CEO. "The launch of YuMe™, the world's first air conditioned sleep system, gives consumers more control over their individual sleep environment. We spend almost 1/3 of our lives in bed, now we can do it more comfortably."

"We believe this unique mattress system will bring unprecedented levels of thermal comfort allowing consumers to customize their individual sleep environment and will set new standards of year-round sleeping comfort," said Amerigon President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel R. Coker.  "This product successfully demonstrates the broad potential of our advanced TE technology.  Strategically, it is important for Amerigon to establish new applications that expand the use of our technology beyond our highly successful Climate Control Seat® (CCS®) systems to a range of products aimed at very large markets outside the automotive industry."

The mattresses, which are made of environmentally friendly foam produced from coconut oil, will be built at the Corsicana, TX, plant of bedding producer Sleep Inc.

Thermoelectric Technology and Amerigon's Heating and Cooling Application

Thermoelectric technology relates to the direct conversion of electrical current to thermal energy (Peltier effect) or the direct conversion of heat differentials to electric current (Seebeck effect).  

Amerigon's highly-efficient, solid-state thermoelectric device acts as a heat pump in heating and cooling applications.  In those applications, ambient air is forced through the heat pump and thermally conditioned in response to temperature settings in the electronic control units.  The conditioned air is then circulated through small ducts or channels just below the surface material by a specially designed, quiet fan so that the surface temperature can be heated or cooled.  

About Mattress Firm, Inc.

Houston-based Mattress Firm (www.mattressfirm.com) is one of the nation's premier specialty bedding retailers, offering a broad selection of both traditional and specialty mattresses from leading manufacturers, including Tempur-Pedic, Sealy, Simmons, Stearns & Foster, and Sleep to Live. Founded in 1986, Mattress Firm's purpose is to improve lives one night at a time. With more than 580 stores across 22 states, Mattress Firm offers consumers the benefit of highly trained, knowledgeable sales professionals, a broad product offering, and competitive prices in an attractive and comfortable store environment.

About Amerigon

Amerigon (NASDAQ-GS: ARGN) develops products based on its advanced, proprietary, efficient thermoelectric (TE) technologies for a wide range of global markets and heating and cooling applications. The Company's current principal product is its proprietary Climate Control Seat® (CCS®) system, a solid-state, TE-based system that permits drivers and passengers of vehicles to individually and actively control the heating and cooling of their respective seats to ensure maximum year-round comfort. CCS, which is the only system of its type on the market today, uses no CFCs or other environmentally sensitive coolants. Amerigon maintains sales and technical support centers in Southern California, Southeast Michigan, Japan, Germany, England and Korea.  For more information, visit the Company's website at 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 filings and reports, including, but not limited to, its Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2010, and its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009.

SOURCE Amerigon Incorporated; Mattress Firm, Inc.