JATCO Ltd (headquartered in Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan: President & CEO, Shigeo Ishida), manufacturer  of automatic and continuously variable transmissions (AT/CVT*)  will host ceremony in honor of the start of production  of the  Global No. 5 production line on April 16^th. 2008  at JATCO Mexico, S.A. de C.V (JMEX), located in Aguascalientes city, Aguascalientes State, Mexico.  This will be the  2^nd CVT production line  at  the  Mexican  facility.  General Director  Mr.  Tomoyoshi Sato   announced that with the launch  of this  new CVT line,  production capacity at JMEX  will increase  to 700,000 units / year.

JATCO Ltd  established  JATCO Mexico, S.A. de C.V. in Mexico in April 2003 as its first overseas production  facility.  JATCO Mexico has been manufacturing  CVTs  since  November 2005 on  Global No. 3  production line  with a capacity of 35,000 units per month, and includes  an  Aluminum Foundry plant and the machining lines for  Case, Gears, Pulleys and heat ｔreatment  lines.  The new CVT  line will add  23,000 units to the JMEX  monthly  production capacity.  This  production line and supporting  Case ,Gear, Pulleys and heat  treatment lines are inaugurated on April 16^th. 2008.

Mr. Shigeo Ishida President & CEO of JATCO Ltd  and  Mr. Tomoyoshi Sato   General Director of JATCO Mexico, S.A . de C.V. will preside over the ceremony of starting the  new Global No. 5 production line,  together  with  Mr. Luis Armando Reynoso Femat, Governor,  and  Mr. Armando Jimenez San Vicente,   Secretary of  Economical Development , both of  Aguascalientes State,     as well as  other local officials, and 100  guests.

JATCO expanded  the production capacity for new-generation of CVTs in order to meet the  growing global  demand for CVTs, which are considered to have advanced  environmental-friendly  technology.  The new Global No. 5  line  is expected  to produce   300,000 units per year, bringing  the total annual JMEX production  capacity  to 700,000 units. 

An investment of approximately 200 million US dollars was made  in the  building expansion and  production facilities for the new Global No. 5 line.  Moreover, JMEX is planning  to  increase its   workforce  from the current  1,000 employees to the 1,350  to accommodate this production capacity increase , further   contributing  to the economic growth of Mexico and Aguascalientes State.

NAFTA is the world’s largest market for automobiles, and also for ATs and CVTs.  More than one million of NAFTA-region  produced or imported vehicles are  equipped with JATCO’s ATs and CVTs.  With improved fuel efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions,  vehicles  with CVT transmissions are expected  to grow in  demand in the future.  In this environment of  increased demand, JATCO Mexico, S.A. de C.V. is an important manufacturing base for JATCO’s further growth and globalization.

Outline of JATCO Mexico, S.A. de C.V. 

Location	Aguascalientes City, Aguascalientes State, Mexico
Land area	About 200,000 m2
Total Floor Area	Current	About 48,000m2
	After expansion	About 79,000 m2
Production Capacity	Current	About 400,000 units/year
	After expansionTOTAL	About + 300,000 units/year About  700,000 units/year
Production Models	Current	Belt CVTs for medium FF vehicles： Altima, Sentra, Caliber, Compass, Patriot.
	After expansion	Belt CVTs for medium and large FF vehicles : Maxima , Altima Sedan and Coupe.
Employees	About 1,000 (as of March 2008)
Brief History	April 2003: Company establishment January 2004: Start of building construction October 2004: Completion of construction November 2005: Start of Production on CVT Global No. 3-35K units /month April 2008 : Start of production on CVT  Global No. 5-23K units /month

JATCO is internationally recognized  as a premier AT/CVT supplier.  Direct customers of JMEX  are  Chrysler LLC , Nissan North America (Canton and Smyrna)  and Nissan Mexicana.

  JATCO  was the first  manufacturer in the world to start  steel-belt CVT volume-production of  2.0L class front-wheel-drive vehicles in 1997, and 3.5L class high-torque front-wheel-drive vehicles in 2002.  JATCO is the only OEM supplier  to offer a full line of front-wheel-drive CVTs for  small vehicles, medium  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.