JATCO Ltd (JATCO, Headquarters: Fuji City, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan; President and CEO: Shigeo Ishida; Capitalization: 29.9353 billion yen), an automatic and continuously variable transmissions (AT/ CVT) manufacturer, held a ground-breaking ceremony for its local Chinese manufacturing subsidiary, "JATCO (Guangzhou) Automatic Transmission Ltd. (abbreviation: JATCO Guangzhou)" on November 28th.

JATCO Guangzhou was established in China in April 2007 as the company's second overseas manufacturing base next to Mexico. Since that time, numerous preparations have advanced toward plant construction.
The ground-breaking ceremony was attended by about 70 people who offered their well-wishes for the plant's safe construction. Participants included Chairman, Guangzhou Development District, Consul General of Japan in Guangzhou, President and CEO, Dongfeng Motor Company, Corporate Vice President, Nissan Motor Co., LTD., as well as other local concerned parties.
The building is scheduled to be completed in August 2008.


JATCO Guangzhou will manufacture 2.0 liter class belt CVTs which are fitted in vehicles like the Sylphy, produced by Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company. After commencement of manufacturing around the middle of 2009, it is projected that ordered expansion of scale will see annual production of approximately 140,000 units. An investment of about 6 billion yen and a workforce of around 300 employees are in the plans. It is expected that production capacity will be further expanded to meet future increased demand.

The company began producing belt CVTs in 1997 and today ranks as one of the world's largest CVT makers. The CVT technology and manufacturing technology cultivated by the company to date will be the primary focus in the construction of this new plant. Together with this, further growth and globalization will be promoted by the objective of increased AT/CVT sales promotion in the China market and the surrounding region, still anticipating large future growth.

A summary of JATCO Guangzhou is provided below.

① Company name	JATCO (Guangzhou) Automatic Transmission Ltd. (abbreviation: JATCO Guangzhou)
② Location	Guangzhou Development District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China
③ Established	April 2007
④ Representative	Takashi Kamijukkoku (Member of the Board, President)
⑤ Capital	US $40 million
⑥ Production model	Belt CVT for front-wheel-drive vehicles
⑦ Start of production	Middle of 2009
⑧ Production capacity	Approximately 140,000 units/year