Jatco
JATCO Ltd (Japanese: ジヤトコ株式会社, Hepburn: Jatoko Kabushiki-gaisha), abbreviated from "Japanese Automatic Transmission COmpany", is a company that manufactures automatic transmissions for automobiles.
Unlisted public company (K.K.) | |
Industry | Automotive |
Founded | 1970 |
Headquarters | , Japan |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Teruaki Nakatsuka, (CEO) |
Revenue | |
Owners |
|
Number of employees | 14,300 (2017)[2] |
Website | www |
History
In August 1943, Nissan established an aircraft engine production plant in the town of Yoshiwara, Shizuoka. After World War II, this plant began producing components for the production of Nissan automobiles. In January 1970, Nissan established a joint venture with Toyo Kogyo (Mazda and the Ford Motor Company named Japan Automatic Transmission Co., Ltd. This company changed its name to JATCO Corporation in October 1989. Nissan spun off its AT/CVT (automatic transmission/continuously variable transmission) development divisions and its Fuji manufacturing plant into a company called TransTechnology, Ltd in June 1999.[3] Four months later, in October 1999, TransTechnology Ltd and JATCO Corporation merged to form JATCO TransTechnology Ltd.
In October 2001, as part of its restructuring, Mitsubishi Motors agreed to merge its transmission division with Nissan's transmission subsidiary Jatco TransTechnology Ltd.[4][5]
JATCO TransTechnology Ltd changed its name to JATCO Ltd in April 2002. Nissan and Mitsubishi equity holdings in JATCO after the share exchange stood at 82% and 18% respectively.
Overseas subsidiaries were established in Mexico (April 2003), France (October 2003) and Korea (May 2004).
When it was still the transmission manufacturing division of Nissan, it partnered with Mazda, and thus Jatco, had long been supplying Nissan, Mazda, Subaru, Isuzu, Suzuki, BMW, Volkswagen, MG Rover Group and Land Rover. However, once it was independent, Jatco quickly began supplying other automakers:
- December 1999 — Hyundai Motor Company
- January 2001 — Jaguar Cars
- December 2001 — London Taxis International
- January 2002 — Ford Europe
- April 2002 — Renault Samsung Motors
- April 2002 — Ford Lio Ho
- April 2004 — Changan Ford
- December 2005 — DaimlerChrysler U.S.A.
- October 2006 - Renault
Today, JATCO has become one of the biggest supplier of CVT transmissions,[6] and products from nearly every auto maker have used Jatco transmissions, with the notable exceptions of Honda Motor Company, who makes their own transmissions, and Toyota Motor Company, who has always used transmissions made by Aisin, a subsidiary of Toyota. GM continues to produce a majority of its transmissions through GM Powertrain, an outgrowth of Hydramatic.
As of March 2015, JATCO is 75% owned by Nissan, 15% owned by Mitsubishi Motors, and 10% owned by Suzuki.[2]
In 2012, Jatco became a supplier of gearboxes in Russia for AvtoVAZ.[7] In 2019, Ministry of Industry and Trade (Russia) announced plans to open Jatco production in Tolyatti.[8]
See also
References
- "JATCO Corporate Profile 2016" (PDF). JATCO Ltd. 1 July 2016.
- "Corporate Information". Archived from the original on 2015-01-07.
- "Agreement Reached for Merger Between TransTechnology and JATCO, Affiliates of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd" (Press release). Nissan Motor (Japan). Aug 3, 1999.
- "MMC to Spin off AT and CVT Operations into New Company. Integrate Operations with JATCO TransTechnology" (Press release). Mitsubishi Motors. Oct 4, 2011.
- Mitsubishi, Nissan To Merge Transmission Businesses Autoparts Report Oct 8 2001
- "100 Cool Things". Automotive News. Apr 16, 2007.
- AvtoVAZ begins to produce cars with automatic transmission
- In Russia, will establish the production of Japanese variators Jatco