JATCO Ltd (President & CEO Shigeo Ishida, Headquartered in Fuji City, Shizuoka, Japan, Capital: 29.9353 billion yen, hereafter JATCO), a manufacturer of automatic and continuously variable transmissions (AT/CVT), has announced that it will expand the production capacity at its China based production plant JATCO (Guangzhou) Automatic Transmission Ltd. (President: Takashi Kamijukkoku, hereafter JGZ) to 730,000 units/year by the spring of 2012. In line with this increase in capacity, JATCO will also promote increased localization at JGZ, including installing such functions as quality assurance and development, responding to quality issues, and stepping up the localization of components and vehicle application development.

At JGZ, which started full-fledged production in September 2009, JATCO will be set to start the production of the latest CVTs with auxiliary gearbox for mini and small FWD vehicles from April 2011, in addition to belt CVTs for medium FWD vehicles which the company currently produces. This will increase the production capacity from the level of 380,000 units/year (as of April 2011) to 730,000 units/year by the spring of 2012, in order to respond to the further growth in demand which is expected in the Chinese market. In addition to the expasion of assembly capacity, the machining processes will also be bolstered and heat treatment processes added, aiming not only to promote a shift towards greater localization but also to set in place a structure capable of responding swiftly to quality-related issues in the market, to vehicle application development and to the local production of components.

Investment for this expansion will amount to approximately 20 billion yen (approximately 1.6 billion yuan), and the number of employees will double from approximately 700 expected in April 2011 to approximately 1,400.

With the expansion of the CVT supply capacity at JGZ, JATCO and JGZ will promote the shift towards even greater fuel efficiency in China, and contribute to the development of economy in Guangzhou as well as in China through the creation of local employment.

Since it started manufacturing belt CVTs in 1997, JATCO has maintained its leading position in the industry through consistent efforts to cultivate and develop global markets, through commercializing world-first technologies. Currently JATCO is the only manufacturer that has a full lineup of CVTs from mini-vehicles to 3.5 liter class vehicles. In 2009, JATCO recorded the largest share in the global CVT production at 41%.

JGZ corporate information

Location	Science City, Guangzhou Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Site Area	Approx. 150,000m2
	December 2010 (present)	April 2011	Spring 2012
Building Area	Approx. 13,000m2	Approx. 40,000m2	Approx. 74,000m2
Annual Production Capacity	Approx. 140,000 units	Approx. 380,000 units	Approx. 730,000 units
Number of Employees	450	Approx. 700	Approx. 1,400
Production Models	Belt CVT for medium FWD vehicles	Belt CVT for medium FWD vehicles, CVT with auxiliary gearbox for mini and Small FWD Vehicles

Note: Amounts in RMB are calculated at the latest exchange rate of 12.6 yen per RMB 1.
.