Relieve CVT in China: Bosch Aims at Small-Displacement Vehicle Exhibition

"In 2010, China's self-owned passenger car sales amounted to 6.27 million, but the number of models equipped with automatic transmissions was less than 10% of the total." When voicing this comparative figure, Dr. Zhou Yunshan first shrugged to reporters and spread out. Hands, with almost helpless eyes "almost" the reporter.

As the earliest member of the domestic spare parts company that develops and manufactures CVTs (Stepless Automatic Transmissions), Zhou Yunshan’s frustration is more of an embarrassment for the future. Two hours ago, the Hunan-based Yungda Vehicle Drive Co., Ltd., which he founded, signed a cooperation agreement with Bosch BOSCH, the world's leading manufacturer of CVT technology.

By taking the lead in introducing Bosch's latest-generation CVT technology, Jiang Rong Rongda will rely on local suppliers' advantages in cost and manufacturing to develop a new small-displacement, compact CVT that is suitable for the domestic market. Batch assembly of automatic transmission history.

“Win-Win” Concept Last week, He Mankun, President of Bosch Transmission Technology Co., Ltd., and Zhou Yunshan, the chairman of Jiang Rongrong, clung to each other, while sitting in the audience seat to witness this moment came from Lifan, Zhongtai, Chuanqi and Haima. Many senior executives from local auto companies.

A few months later, if nothing else happens, these local car companies that witnessed the signing of Bosch and Jiang Rongda’s cooperation will be the “customers” who will take the lead in purchasing the results of the cooperation between the two parties. Before this, the first domestically produced small displacement CVT gearbox independently developed by Jiang Rong Yung has been assembled into new cars such as MG, Lifan and Zhongtai.

Targeting customers to local auto companies that cannot independently develop automatic transmissions, and keeping up with the trend of continuous sales of small-displacement vehicles in recent years, whether it is for giant Bosch or giant Jiang Zerong, who was established only for 7 years. Words may all mean the beginning of a "win-win".

This time, standing behind Jiang Rongrong is the inventor of pressure steel belt type CVT, who has been focusing on the development of CVT technology for more than 30 years. This is also the first time Bosch has introduced the latest generation of CVT technology into the Chinese market since it signed a cooperation agreement with Beijing Automotive in 2009.

Currently, Bosch's CVT technology has been partially applied to Nissan, Honda and Audi joint venture brand models, but in the lower-end, smaller-displacement independent brand models, there are few models equipped with CVT gearbox. One of the key reasons is that there is a lack of suppliers that can really make CVT technology native to production.

"If you want to buy domestic products, you may find it too expensive to buy imported products." A veteran of a self-owned brand car company told reporters that although it belongs to Bosch in terms of technology, it is a CVT gearbox supported by local suppliers like Jiang Rongrong. The purchase price can be reduced by more than 40% compared with similar imported products.

Jiang Yunrong’s chairman Zhou Yunshan gave the reporter an account. The only new generation CVT to be developed in cooperation with Bosch is the pressure steel belt that needs to be purchased from Bosch. The vast majority of other parts and components are also supplied by domestic suppliers. The cost of the pressure steel belt only accounts for the cost of the entire transmission. /10 or so.

“Current domestic CVTs are still more expensive than AMTs (hand-operated gearboxes) by nearly 2,000 yuan.” However, Zhou Yunshan firmly believes that with the expansion of the Jiang Rong capacity project, and Bosch plans to build millions of steel belts in Vietnam. With the launch of a new factory, domestic CVTs with economies of scale support and better performance will be able to achieve even lower final purchase costs than AMT.

Bosch's "ambition"

At present, China's largest market for CVT applications is mainly Dongfeng Nissan and Guangzhou Honda. In addition, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, and Chery, Haima, and Nanjing MG have also launched CVT models. Globally, Mercedes-Benz's Class A and Class B vehicles also use CVTs.

“As long as CVT technology becomes more popular, the demand for steel strips will increase, and our benefits will become better and better.” Zhang Hui, Senior Manager of China for Bosch CVT Business Department, told reporters that Bosch is the largest in the world. CVT pressure strip suppliers have sold more than 5 million steel strips last year, accounting for 79% to 80% of global steel strip supply.

It can be said that in the more upstream pressure strip market, Bosch is undoubtedly a "hidden giant".

The reporter later learned from the interview that whether it was the previous strategic cooperation agreement with BAIC or the cooperation agreement signed with Jiang Rong Yung Da, it was clear that the pressure strip used in the production of CVT transmissions must be purchased in full. Bosch. For this reason, Bosch does not hesitate to charge more domestic companies to participate in CVT cooperation projects by charging lower technology transfer fees.

In fact, in the world’s largest and most robust Chinese market, Bosch’s “good show” has only just begun. In particular, in the small-displacement vehicle market segment of the main brand of self-owned brands, more and more vehicle manufacturers have realized that CVTs that are superior to traditional AT automatic transmissions in terms of fuel economy, purchase cost, and size will be The future plays a vital role.

A research report within Bosch China predicts that by 2016 China will become the country with the second highest CVT loading rate after Japan. By then, the loading rates of CVTs in Japan, China, South Korea, North America, and Europe should be 38%, 22%, 12%, 9%, and 5%, respectively. According to statistics, China’s self-owned brands nowadays have less than 10% of models matching automatic transmissions (including AT, AMT, CVT, and DCT dual-clutch transmissions).

There is no doubt that the domestic fast-growing small-displacement vehicle market will become Bosch's "cornucopia" in the next 5 to 10 years.