China going shiftless

Suppliers hope to capitalize on the future gold mine for automatic transmissions by working with OEMs on high-tech but low-cost solutions.

China's rapidly growing car market has resulted in unprecedented sales growth for all sizes of vehicle, but, for the most part, it is for engines of less than 2.5 L. Everything is in place to satisfy this growing demand, except for one very important piece of equipment. China still does not yet manufacture its own, modern, fuel-efficient automatic transmissions (ATs).

The domestic automakers that actually make their own ATs can be numbered on the fingers of one hand. The fact that these units are based on earlier-generation designs-and are thus relatively thirsty and lacking in forward speeds-does little for their appeal in the eyes of technology-hungry local customers.