WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE: WBC) has entered into a long-term agreement with Shaanxi Fast Gear Company, Ltd., China’s largest manufacturer of heavy-duty transmissions, to develop and supply WABCO’s OptiDrive system, a breakthrough in transmission automation technology.
WABCO will furnish OptiDrive systems for Fast Gear’s platform of new F-Shift transmission products. Series production is expected to begin during 2011. This new contract with Fast Gear marks yet another major customer on a fast-growing list of leading original equipment manufacturers in China and India that have already adopted WABCO’s OptiDrive technology.
WABCO’s OptiDrive system improves vehicle control and driver effectiveness by automating and optimizing gear shifting. It significantly improves vehicle safety and the driver’s comfort as it frees the driver from shifting gears, allowing the driver to concentrate even more on traffic conditions.
By optimizing gear shifting, WABCO’s OptiDrive also reduces fuel consumption by up to 5 percent, a major cost saving and environmental benefit over the vehicle’s lifetime. With OptiDrive, total cost of vehicle ownership is substantially reduced due to less required maintenance of and less wear on drivetrain components and systems.
WABCO is also the only supplier of compressed air powered automated manual transmission (AMT) systems and OptiDrive is a modular AMT solution. Its modularity significantly reduces the development time required for application to transmission and vehicle platforms. This means higher flexibility and cost efficiencies for manufacturers of transmissions and commercial vehicles.
“We are proud of this new agreement with Fast Gear as OptiDrive is our breakthrough in transmission automation technology,” said Leon Liu, WABCO President, Asia. “Our commitment with Fast Gear shows further adoption of OptiDrive systems in the growing market for automated manual transmissions in China. It also further strengthens WABCO’s leading position in China as we continue to create value for customers through access to our global engineering network and from our world-class local manufacturing facilities.”