Antonov Plc is working with its Chinese partner Chongqing Landai Industry Co. for the final push to production launch of the TX6 transmission, Simon Roberts, Chief Commercial Officer of Antonov told Gasgoo.com through a phone interview.

He said the TX6 transmission will be put into production at the end of 2011, with an annual capacity of 200,000 units.

For China & From China

TX6, a six speed transverse automatic transmission for small and medium sized passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, has been designed to be suitable for the China market, and will be launched first in China.

It will be produced at Antonov and Landai’s 50:50 joint venture Chongqing EFA Transmission Co., Ltd, located in Chongqing, China.

“When the TX-6 transmission gets into production, about 75-80% of the components will come from China,” Roberts said. “And the majority of these components suppliers are local China suppliers, we only have one or two global suppliers that are operating in China.”

However, “the transmission will be tested and validated to the European standards, so it can be exported out of China in the future,” Roberts said. “Currently we are doing all of the pre-production development in the UK.

25-30% Cheaper

In Roberts’ opinion, The DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission) technology will be too expensive for the smaller car segment in China, but the TX-6 will be very competitively priced and therefore will be a very suitable product for that market segment.

He said that because of the local sourcing of components and assembly facility, the TX-6 transmission will be about 25-30% cheaper than any other six speed automatic transmissions that are currently available to the Chinese OEMs.

More Chinese and Korean Customers Establishing

Antonov has installed two pre-production prototype TX6 transmissions into two Volkswagen Golfs since 2008. One vehicle is in the UK and is the test, development and durability vehicle. The other is in Chongqing, demonstrating the TX6 technology to potential Chinese vehicle OEM customers.

In China, Antonov has inked an agreement with Lifan Auto in Chongqing to install a TX6 transmission into a Lifan 620 car,and more supply agreements will be established this year.

“We are talking to a lot of different OEMs in China and Korea,” Roberts said. “Hopefully we will be finalizing supply contracts with those customers later in the year -- around October, when we will have our next phase of pre-production transmissions installed into demonstration vehicles.”

New product development plan

The current TX6 is suitable for front wheel drive vehicles up to around two liters engine size.

Antonov will continue to develop new products in conjunction with Landai, and will introduce new products to the market through EFA from 2012. The next new product will be a larger torque version of the current TX-6 transmission that will be suitable for larger vehicles. Antonov are also currently developing a three speed powershifting automatic transmission for electric vehicles that they hope will launch into production in 2012.