Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has released the "Technical Progress and Investment in Technological Innovation in the Automotive Industry (2010)" (referred to as "Direction"), and the technological progress standards for electric vehicles and components, engines, transmissions, automotive electronic control systems, and other key components. Detailed regulations were made. "Direction" encourages the development of manual transmissions for six or more passenger cars, passenger car dual clutch automatic transmissions (DCTs), and automatic control mechanical transmissions (AMTs) for commercial vehicles and small passenger vehicles, and defines specific technical conditions.
It is noteworthy that "Direction" does not mention hydraulic automatic transmission (AT) and continuously variable transmission (CVT), and AMT, which has attracted much attention, together with DCT has become the type of automatic transmission that the country encourages to develop. AMT has a good fuel economy and a relatively simple structure. It is a hot spot product for some domestic vehicle and transmission companies in recent years. FAW, CNHTC, Chongqing Qingshan, etc. have successively launched AMTs independently developed and put them on the market in batches. AMTs such as Fast and other companies are also under development and will be available soon. At the same time, there are also mature AMT system suppliers such as Nanjing Afu.
Foreign Investment in China Implements AMT Strategy
While domestic enterprises are actively developing, foreign-funded enterprises have also seen the potential of AMT in the Chinese automobile market. After completing the preliminary preparations and layout, ZF, WABCO, and Marelli have begun to make efforts to fully enter the Chinese AMT market through different paths. .
On April 14, ZF hosted the AMT test drive test in Shanghai. Hager KLQ6119GA city bus (equipped with ZF 6-speed mechanical automatic transmission), youth JNP6120 double-deck passenger car (with ZF 12-speed mechanical automatic transmission) and Dongfeng Tianlong heavy truck, German MAN tractor, XCMG 110-ton truck crane, 200 Tons of vehicles equipped with ZF AMT, such as full-surface truck cranes, are used for test driving by media reporters, users and related personnel at the event site.
Wolfgang Schilha, President of ZF Bus Technical Business Unit, said: “Last ten years ago, ZF headquarters began researching and developing AMT transmissions. Today, ZF series AS Tronic has a wide range of commercial vehicle applications. The range of applications, whether it is AS Tronic for heavy trucks, or AS Tronic mid and AS Tronic lite for medium and light trucks, is known for its flexibility, safety and economy. The eTronic automatic transmission for vans and the TC Tronic transmission for smooth start-up of heavy-duty trailers with a total mass of 250 tons.â€
Like ZF, another foreign-funded enterprise active in the AMT field of commercial vehicles in China is the US control system supplier WABCO. The difference between the two is that ZF supplies AMT assembly, and WABCO focuses on AMT. The core technology is the development of electronic control systems and implementing agencies. Marelli, the Italian company of passenger car AMT system supplier, chose to establish a joint venture with China. On June 3, SAIC Marelli Powertrain Co., Ltd. held its opening ceremony. The company is a joint venture jointly established by Marelli and Shanghai Automotive Transmission Co., Ltd. It specializes in the production of hydraulic fittings for Marelli AMT systems.
AMT or take the lead in forming industrialization
In Europe and the United States, heavy-duty trucks equipped with AMT (mechanical automatic transmission) are commonplace. In China, due to the price, it is not popular. However, AMT is moving toward us faster than expected.
People concerned about the development of AMT should also note that AMT is not only rapidly popularized on small passenger vehicles, but also has a great momentum of development in the field of commercial vehicles. Heavy commercial vehicles such as Sinotruk and FAW Group have already begun trials of AMT products. In addition, several domestic commercial vehicle transmission manufacturers - Fast, Big Tooth, Reed, North Gear, are also planning and developing their AMT products; among them, North Tooth's AMT products have been trial-made in small batches, Fast AMT commercial products may soon be available. AMT's inheritance of manual transmission products and manual transmission production lines has become a new force that can not be ignored in China's national conditions.
Kangwei Die Casting Moulds Co., Ltd. , http://www.ytdiecastings.com