January 13, 2006
Announcement:
Expansion of CVT Production Capacity in Mexico and
JATCO Mexico, S.A. de C.V. Inauguration Ceremony
- Expansion of production
capacity up to 800,000 units/year -
JATCO (Headquartered in Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan: President
& CEO, Shigeo Ishida: Capitalization, 29.9353 billion yen), Automatic
Transmissions and Continuously Variable Transmissions (AT/CVT* ) manufacturer
held an inauguration ceremony for JATCO Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (Headquartered
in Aguascalientes City, Aguascalientes State, Mexico: President: Katsufumi
Ito), our overseas affiliated company, on January 12th 2006, and announced the expansion of production capacity in Mexico.
JATCO established JATCO Mexico, S.A. de C.V. in Mexico in April 2003, our
first overseas production base, and have been of preparing for CVT production.
The start of production of belt CVTs for medium FF (front-engine front-wheel-drive)
vehicles took place already in November 2005, and the ceremony was the
official introduction of the plant.
For the
inauguration ceremony, there attended, Mr. Garca de Alba, the
Economy Minister of the Federal Government of Mexico, Mr. Armando
Reynoso, the governor of Aguascalientes State and other
local officials, Mr. Yubun Narita, the Japanese Ambassador to Mexico, Mr. Itaru
Koeda, Co-Chairman of
the Board of Directors of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and
200 other guests.
JATCO have
been promoting the production capacity expansion of new-generation CVTs in
order to respond to globally growing demand for CVTs, which are drawing
attention as state-of-the-art environmental technology. Besides the start of production at JATCO
Mexico, S.A. de C.V., JATCO is currently increasing production capacity in the
Yagi area (Yagi-cho, Nantan City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan), and will continue
to promote further expansions in production capacity both in Japan and
overseas.
As a part of these activities, we have come to a
decision to expand the production capacity of JATCO Mexico, S.A. de C.V.
The current annual production capacity of about
300,000 units will be increased in stages to about 400,000 units, and also new
production lines will be developed with production capacity of about 300,000
units per year, enabling production increase of new-generation belt CVTs for
medium FF vehicles from October 2007. In addition, the localization of production (in Mexico) of
new-generation CVTs for large FF vehicles (currently being produced in Japan) for
only NAFTA by May 2008 has been in the plan.
Given the prospect
of further growth in demand for CVTs in NAFTA, the continual expansion of
production capacity to about 800,000 units per year is being planned.
Along with this, approximately
about 20 billion yen of investment for building expansions, production
facilities and so forth is projected.
Moreover,
there expected about 2,000 new jobs for local residents by this production
increase in the future, which we believe it will contribute to the further
economic growth of Mexico, and promotion of economic exchanges between Japan
and Mexico.
NAFTA is the worldfs largest market for automobile,
and also for ATs and CVTs. More than
one million/year of the automobiles being produced or imported in NAFTA are
equipped with JATCOfs ATs and CVTs, and JATCO has a strong customer base within
NAFTA already. Based on this foundation, JATCO will
aim for further expansion in AT/ CVT sales in NAFTA, the largest AT/CVT market.
President Ishida
made the following remarks at the inauguration ceremony of JATCO Mexico, S.A.
de C.V..
We anticipate a steady
expansion in the demand for CVTs as important technology which will make significant
contributions to improved fuel efficiency, and reduced CO2 emissions, and
countermeasures of global warming. JATCO
Mexico, S.A. de C.V. is an important manufacturing base that will assure JATCOfs
further growth and globalization. I
would like to express my appreciation to the Federal Government of Mexico and the
State of Aguascalientes, Nissan Motor Co, Ltd., and Nissan Mexico for their
tremendous cooperation, which led us to this success of this inauguration
ceremony, and which enabled us to announce the further expansion of production
capacity. We continuously intend to contribute
to the development of wonderful Mexico, the State of Aguascalientes, and to the
Nissan Group."
Outline of JATCO Mexico, S.A. de C.V.
Location
|
Aguascalientes City,
Aguascalientes State, Mexico
|
Land area
|
About 200,000 m2
|
Total Floor Area
|
|
|
|
|
Production Capacity
|
Current
|
About 300,000 units/year
|
After expansion
|
About 800,000 units/year
|
Production Models
|
Current
|
Belt CVTs for medium FF
vehicles
|
After expansion
|
Belt CVTs for medium and large
FF vehicles
|
Employees
|
About 700 (as of January 2006)
|
|
April 2003: Company
establishment
January 2004: Start of building
construction
October 2004: Completion of
construction
November 2005: Start of
Production
|
JATCO is internationally acknowledged as a premier AT/CVT supplier. We
have already produced more than 55 million ATs/CVTs, and have been delivering
them to Nissan and other car companies in Japan and abroad. JATCO has been
a trailblazer in the field of CVTs. We were the first manufacturer in the
world started steel-belt CVT volume-production of both 2.0L class front-engine
front-wheel-drive vehicles in 1997, and 3.5L class high-torque front-engine
front-wheel-drive vehicles in 2002. Moreover, we are the only supplier
that offers a Full Line of CVTs; covering small vehicles, medium vehicles
and large vehicles up to 3.5L.
* Acronym for "Continuously Variable Transmission. In basic structure,
input and output pulleys are linked by a single steel belt and the reduction
gear ratio varies continuously due to variations in the radius of the contact
point of the pulleys and steel belt. Compared to the conventional step
(stepped shift) ATs, CVTs provide better fuel efficiency, smoother driving
without shift shock, better acceleration and other advantages.
-
end -
|