A major new study into the global automotive transmissions market has predicted that the total number of new vehicles fitted with automatic transmissions will accelerate past that for manuals in 2007.
London, UK (PRWeb) February 8, 2007 -- A major new study into the global automotive transmissions market from just-auto has predicted that the total number of new vehicles fitted with automatic transmissions will accelerate past that for manuals this year.
Despite being heavier and more expensive, the popularity of automatic transmissions has grown and it is firmly established as the most popular option for passenger cars and light commercials in two major manufacturing regions, namely North America and Japan.
Indeed, such has been the rate of growth that had it not been for Western Europe's inherent preference for manuals and increasing vehicle production and ownership in Asia and Eastern Europe, where low prices are hugely important, automatics would have already assumed pole position.
Greater acceleration to come...
Furthermore, there are clear indications that automatic transmissions will continue to gain ground well beyond 2007. Penetration within the dynamic Asian market looks set to advance rapidly as booming economies generate greater consumer affluence. Increasing road congestion should also encourage drivers to opt for user-friendly automatics, a trend that has long been evident in Japan.
just-auto estimates that by 2014, the additional demand for automatics will equate to the production output of no less than 10 major transmissions plants! GM, Honda and Aisin AW are among the companies to have begun working towards this and will be well placed to expand existing capabilities in the future. Many major players have also established Chinese technical centres.
Interestingly, Japan's bias towards automatics is beginning to be mirrored in South Korea. Here, consumers have no historical prejudices and exports to North America have helped to hone the automatics expertise of domestic manufacturers.
Strong innovations but no breaking of convention...
The prospects for innovative automatic transmissions including CVT, IVT and AMT technologies also appear extremely healthy. The strong expected gains should come at the expense of manual transmissions rather than eroding conventional automatic volumes which look set to rise annually and are expected to account for over half of all global transmissions by 2012. Further details, sample pages and a table of contents for the study are available at just-auto.com.
Notes:
1. About the report...
The fully updated and revised just-auto 2007 Global market review of automotive transmissions -- forecasts to 2014 provides vehicle production data and volumes and market shares for manual and automatic transmissions from 2002-2014. The same information is also provided for all innovative automatics, CVTs and AMTs. The transmissions production and sourcing strategies of the major vehicle manufacturers and suppliers are also examined alongside just-auto's assessment of future prospects.
2. About just-auto...
Since 2001, just-auto has provided daily news and analysis on the global automotive market. Today, just-auto is the authoritative and timely source of automotive business industry information and is the automotive industry's leading online resource.
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