China – The OEM has now commenced production of the latest generation of advanced dual-clutch gearboxes (DSG) at its new facility. The annual capacity of 450,000 units will be increased to 1.2m by 2016; VW has already invested 2.2 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) in the first phase of the plant.
In combination with the new EA888 engines made at the Changchun and Shanghai plants, the DQ380 gearboxes will deliver a fuel consumption reduction of 0.51/100km and a CO2 decrease of 12g/km compared with the previous generation. Made for the local market, the gearboxes will feature in several Volkswagen Group models in China in the future.
VW believes the components will help it to become the most sustainable automotive manufacturer in the country by 2018. At Tianjin, a water treatment facility has been installed to reduce process wastewater by up to 95% and also to recycle the water. Meanwhile, heat from spent air is transferred to fresh intake air, halving energy consumption. Additionally, the plant makes use of natural daylight via ‘light domes’, plus LED lighting in the hall which cuts power consumption by 50%.
Volkswagen Automatic Transmission Tianjin has created 5,500 jobs in the region. The plant will be joined next year by the first Volkswagen Component Academy outside Germany, which will provide dual vocational training for up to four vocations and help to meet demand for employees with specialist technical qualifications. From 2016, VW will also establish a test and analysis centre for all DSG transmissions produced in China.