PRESS RELEASES & NEWS

JATCO Ltd (President: Teruaki Nakatsuka; head office: Fuji City, Shizuoka, Japan; capital: JPY29,935.3 million), a leading manufacturer of automatic transmissions (AT/CVT), announced that its global production volume of CVT (continuously variable transmissions) has reached 30 million units at the end of March 2016 in 18 years and 8 months since the start of CVT production in 1997. This is the first time in the world* that an individual manufacturer has achieved cumulative CVT production volume of 30 million units.

In 1997, JATCO has started production of the world’s first 2-liter class metal belt-type CVT in Japan. As interest in the environment and fuel efficiency has increased throughout the world, the demands for CVT, which provides outstanding fuel efficiency, has become greater. In order to meet the increasing CVT needs in the market, JATCO has expanded its production capabilities. Production in Mexico launched in November 2005, China in September 2009, and Thailand in July 2013. The step from 20 million to 30 million CVT units took 2 years and 4 months and 5.32 million CVT units of overseas production greatly contributed to the increase. In FY2015, approximately 2.46 million units were produced at overseas manufacturing plants, accounting for 57% of the total JATCO’s global CVT production volume of approximately 4.32 million units.

Since JATCO has started CVT production in 1997, it has commercialized numerous world’s first technologies, and has constantly led the industry as CVT pioneer. The “Jatco CVT7,” which was introduced in the market for mini and small sized vehicles in 2009, is the world’s first CVT with an auxiliary gearbox. It has become the top selling product due to its outstanding driving performance and fuel efficiency. The sales reached approximately 9.2 million units and the demand is still growing. In 2015, based on the “Jatco CVT7,” JATCO launched the “Jatco CVT7 W/R,” which realized the world’s largest transmission gear ratio coverage of 8.7 as CVT and has further improved fuel efficiency and driveability. For mid to large sized vehicles, JATCO introduced the “Jatco CVT8” in the market in 2012. “Jatco CVT8 HYBRID,” a version for hybrid vehicles, was launched in 2013. The three models “Jatco CVT7,” “Jatco CVT8” and “Jatco CVT8 HYBRID” have covered 90% of the company’s global CVT production volume in FY2015. JATCO is the only manufacturer to offer a full CVT lineup for vehicles ranging from mini cars to 3.5-liter class vehicles from a total of six manufacturing plants, three in Japan and three overseas. In 2015, JATCO marked the industry’s top share of 41% in the worldwide CVT production.
*: According to JATCO research

[Steps to 30 million units of CVT production]

1997	Production of world’s first CVT (F06A) for 2-liter class vehicles starts in Fuji District (Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture, at former Fuji Plant of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.)
1999	Production of world’s first toroidal CVT (JR006E) starts
2000	Production in Yagi District (Nantan City, Kyoto Prefecture, at former Mitsubishi Motors Kyoto Works Yagi Factory) starts
2002	Production of metal belt CVT (JF010E) for 3.5-liter class vehicles starts (only one CVT coping with large-sized vehicles)
2005	JATCO Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (Aguascalientes, Mexico) launches CVT production
2009	Production of Jatco CVT7(JF015E) with world’s first auxiliary gearbox for mini and small vehicles, starts
2009	JATCO (Guangzhou) Automatic Transmission Ltd. (Guangzhou, China) launches CVT production
2010	CVT production starts in Kakegawa District (Kakegawa City, Shizuoka Prefecture) CVT global production reaches 10 million units
2012	Production of Jatco CVT8(JF016E/JF017E) for mid to large sized vehicles starts
2013	JATCO (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Chonburi, Thailand) launches CVT production
2013	CVT global production reaches 20 million units
2015	Production of Jatco CVT7 W/R(JF020E) with auxiliary gearbox for small vehicles, starts
2016	CVT global production reaches 30 million units