| 20-02-2008 In
China automatic transmissions are still considered high-tech products and their
suppliers are predominantly foreign companies. However, two major Chinese automakers
recently joined hands to develop advanced double-clutch transmissions.
Recently,
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) and Brilliance Jinbei Automobile Co.
signed an agreement in Beijing to jointly develop and produce a wide range of
manual and automatic transmissions for passenger vehicles, including double-clutch
transmissions.
Brilliance says the joint project will have designed annual
production capacity of 400,000 units of manual transmissions and 100,000 units
of automatic transmissions. All the transmissions will be built in a plant in
Shenyang, a city where Brilliance is located.
Set up in 2003 with a joint
investment of 150 million yuan ($21 million), the plant currently produces manual
transmissions for Brilliance's commercial vans.
Brilliance says the two
companies will increase their investment in the plant to 1.5 billion yuan ($210
million). Meanwhile, SAIC initially held a 51.4% stake in the transmission plant
while Brilliance owned the rest. Now it has transferred part of its interest in
the plant to Brilliance to turn it into a 50-50 joint venture.
In return,
Brilliance has pledged to source transmissions from the plant for all of its vehicles
in the future.
Harry Zhao, manager of greater China powertrain forecasts
at CSM Worldwide, says neither of the two companies would be able to develop double-clutch
transmissions on its own.
He believes the joint transmission project
will be based on technologies that SAIC has sourced from BorgWarner for another
transmission project.
According to local media, BorgWarner and SAIC started
working together to develop double-clutch transmissions for Roewe cars in June
2007, and the two companies expect to mass produce the transmissions beginning
2010.
SAIC and Brilliance declined to comment on the technology source
of their joint transmission project.
Brilliance now imports automatic
transmissions from Mitsubishi Motors and ZF Friedrichshafen AG, and also purchases
manual transmissions from Getrag Corp.'s China joint venture Getrag (Jiangxi)
Transmission Co. and Mitsubishi's powertrain plant affiliate Harbin Dongan Auto
Engine Co Ltd.
SAIC currently sources automatic transmissions from Japanese
Aisin for Roewe.
CSM'S Zhao notes by allying with Brilliance, SAIC will
be able to reduce its R&D and production costs of the double-clutch transmissions.
"Positioned as a high-end brand, the sales volumes of Roewe will
be relatively small, and supplying Brilliance is a good way to expand the production
of the transmissions," says Zhao.
Zhao also says the joint transmission
project will also enable SAIC to divert part of the potential risks involved in
developing the transmissions to Brilliance.
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