BorgWarner: DCT application in China is very promising
Dr. Bernd Matthes
President and General Manager
BorgWarner Transmission Systems
The program we are doing for North American and Asian applications are just in the starting phase. Some of the Dual Clutch Transmissions manufactured in Europe are exported to North America and Asia. The Dual Clutch Transmissions in China, Japan and India are manufactured in Europe. In future, there will be much more balanced portfolio. We will have a very high volume production in North America, and we also will have a substantial volume in the Asian market.
The development and the initial introduction in Europe was driven through mainly two factors: Europe has very stringent emission regulations, and gasoline is expensive, so feel the efficiency and low emissions have been very very important.
The DCT is the automatic transmission technology that delivers best fuel efficiency out of all the automatic transmission technologies, therefore allows us for lowest emissions in the vehicles.
But as governmental regulations on fuel efficiency and emissions are getting tighter every where, the applications of Dual Clutch Transmissions will be growing on a global basis, both in North America and in Asia.
Q: Can you tell us something about your development in the china market? We know BorgWarner are cooperating with SAIC on the new Roewe model, when this car can be put in the market?
A: That's a good question. I don't know when it finally will be in the market. The original schedule for the DCT was to be introduced in 2010. We also have other programs in China which we can not disclose now, but you will see Dual Clutch Transmissions that will be applied in other vehicles.
Q: Is there any possibility that BorgWarner has other DCT program that will be on the market earlier than the SAIC Roewe?
A: There is a possibility. The program actually is very dynamic, so there is a possibility that something can go to the market in 2009. But no promises.
Q: Is there any application limitation for the DCT technology? Can it be used in the small cars and the big cars?
A: There is no limitation for Dual Clutch Transmission from the application point of view. Dual Clutch Transmission can be used in very very small cars, down to 660 cc engines. On the other hand, the most spectacular DCT application today is the production of the Bugatti. But you will also see the production of Dual Clutch Transmissions that will be applied in luxury cars and SUVs in Europe from the year 2008. And we have started working on Dual Clutch Transmissions for commercial truck applications in Asia and North America.
So we can basically apply Dual Clutch Transmissions in every type of vehicle in every combination with engines, which is one of the biggest advantages of the Dual Clutch Transmission, because it does not have any limitations when they come to engines speed, they can work with very low and very high engines speed, it can work very well with very high engine torques.
The CVT or a normal automatic transmission does not work well besides engines speed. The CVT for example, also does not work well in combination with diesel engines or high torque applications.
Q: Is BorgWarner only making dual-clutch module and control, but doesn't make the whole transmission?
A: At this point today, we are manufacturing dual-clutch module and control module, we also in some programs, do the shift actuation module and etc. But we do have the full development capabilities, to complete transmissions, and we do this for our customers, we do the complete transmission development.
Q: But if you do the transmission by yourself, will that affect your relationship with your customers?
A: No, it really depends on the customer, what we are looking into is to find the best solution for BorgWarner and the customer. If the customer has for example investment in place in manual transmissions, that may make sense to do the final assembly of the customer. If the customer would be interested in acquiring a complete transmission, then this might be a possibility, maybe we team up with the customer one day to build that transmission jointly. We are really looking into what is in the best interest about our customers, to find the best solution.
Q: In the Nissan GTR model co-developed by BorgWarner and Nissan, do you only supplied the dual-clutch module for it?
A: No. What we did for the GTR, first of all, the transmission is based on a transmission design that we have developed, a transmission architecture we have developed, and the transmission was in jointly development with Nissan for this application. But we are supplying in that transmission, the clutch module, a complete control and actuation module and etc. The Nissan part is to supply the gears, the shaft, and the transmission case, and the transmission is being assembled at a Nissan factory. So it is a joint effort to bring the Dual Clutch Transmission to a very specific car with the unique requirements.
Q: What do you think of the trend for automatic transmission? Gif has introduced a new CVT. But how do you foresee the trend for transmission technology？
A: By now the automatic transmission side majority is planetary automatics, and we foresee for the next years it will remain the majority of the automatic transmissions. The CVT is a transmission that we see for Japanese only. All actives of CVT programs that have been started in the past in North America and Europe are phasing out. On the automatic transmission side, the fast growing automatic transmission is the DCT, because it delivers the best fuel efficiency, had a very competitive price, And it does not have any application limitations like all the other technologies.
Q: What's your plan for your DCT development in the Chinese market？Are you going to manufacture DCT in China?
A: We think so; there will be a lot of DCT applications with customers in China, what we will manufacture at the end in china, still to be seen. But what we are working actively with various Chinese customers on DCT programs. We've announced the SAIC; obviously there are more programs in the market, so we do see China has an excellent application market for DCTs.
Most of Chinese transmission manufacturers have capabilities to produce manual transmissions, and if you combine this capability with our control and clutch technology, then you already have the DCT. The specific Chinese strength on the manual transmission side, and our strength on the clutch and control technology, merge very well for the Chinese market.
In addition, fuel efficiency, emissions and air pollution will play more prominent role in future china too. The DCT is the automatic transmission that delivers the best efficiency and therefore the lowest emissions.
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