Getrag

Magna International's purchase of transmission maker Getrag is finally through regulatory approval and officially complete.

Automotive component supplier Magna International has signed an agreement to take over the Getrag Group, one of the biggest transmission manufacturers, by the end of the year, in a deal worth nearly $2 billion.

The next time the hypermiler in front of you stops you from catching that next green light, take heart. One day, it won't be the driver's fault. There will be algorithms involved. But you migh still be aggravated for not making that light.

German transmission specialist Getrag used the floor of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show to reveal its groundbreaking, dual-clutch transmission for electric-drive vehicles.

Getrag Range Extender – Click above for high-res image gallery

Now that Chrysler's deal to build dual clutch transmissions in a joint venture with Getrag is officially kaput, the company will stick with its existing 6-speed automatic for now. In early 2007, Chrysler announced the deal with Getrag to supply up to 700,000 transmissions a year that could cut fuel consumption by six percent. It was part of a series of powertrain announcements that

The roundabout that was the Chrysler, LLC-Getrag partnership recently came to an end with Chrysler pulling out the deal, citing untenable financing terms. Now Getrag Transmission Manufacturing, the U.S. company that was going to build the dual-clutch transmissions for Chrysler, has filed for Chapter 11. Getrag has done so in order to streamline its handling of claims and creditors.

Chrysler's plans to start equipping some of its vehicles with dual clutch transmissions later next year has just hit a major hitch. its deal to build a joint venture transmissions plant with Getrag is now dead. A week after suing the transmission supplier for its failure to raise the necessary cash to pay for tooling for a new factory, Chrysler has now terminated the deal altogeth

Chrysler has managed to stay out of the doom and gloom news for a few weeks now, which goes to show that going private can have its benefits. But things couldn't stay quiet forever, and as if the company needed something else to deal with, it's now in row with German transmission supplier Getrag over a potentially failed joint venture.

Construction of the $530 million dollar plant being built by Chrysler and Getrag in Kokomo, Indiana, has been suspended indefinitely due to a contract dispute between the two companies. Neither Chrysler nor Getrag were willing to specify the exact reason for the stoppage, the only word from Chrysler to Automotive News was that it hopes the dispute can be resolved so that the transm

Getrag has partnered with Bosch to develop a further enhancement of their PowerShift dual clutch transmissions. At the Frankfurt Motor Show last week they announced a hybrid DCT that mates an electric motor/generator to the side of the transmission. The motor is mounted parallel to the transmission shafts and is connected via an electro-magnetic clutch that allows it to connect to either of the two gear sets. The system enables full parallel hybrid functionality including power-boost, regenerati

The burgeoning interest in dual clutch gearboxes should be big business for Getrag over the next few years. Because a dual clutch transmission (DCT) combines the greater efficiency of a manual with full automatic shift capability they are being installed in more vehicles all the time. The first widespread use of DCTs was on Volkswagen and Audi models in the last few years with their Borg-Warner-built DSG units.

Automotive supplier Robert Bosch GmbH is hoping to grab a significant chunk of new business over the next decade as hybrids and diesels take up a bigger share of the automotive market. Bosch is forecasting that hybrids will take four percent of the North American market and nine percent of the Japanese market by 2015. That's considerably more than the current sub-one percent and four percent shares.

click above image to view high-res gallery of 2009 Dodge Journey

Chrysler and Getrag are teaming up to build a transmission plant in Indiana, at a cost of around $530 million. The production center, set to open in 2009, will produce approximately 700,000 dual-clutch transmissions annually in Tipton, Indiana.

The Bosch Group and the Getrag Group announced Tuesday that they will partner to develop and market parallel hybrid systems to provide a near-turnkey hybrid solution to automakers.