At present, the automobile industry is welcoming the 'new four modernizations' – the historic development opportunities of electrification, intelligence, networking, and sharing. Driven by the new wave of technological revolution, the transmission market has also entered a period of rapid growth. The global passenger car transmission has begun to develop from manual transmission to automatic transmission. Among them, the continuously variable transmission (CVT) is gradually favored by major OEMs because of its superior fuel economy and comfortable and smooth driving experience. According to US IHS data. It is predicted that by 2020, the production of China's continuously variable transmission will increase to 3.71 million sets.
In the Chinese auto market, the CVT suppliers are mainly Bunge Power, JATCO, Wan Liyang and other companies. As the second largest automatic gearbox supplier in China's own brand segment, Bunge Power is also a self-owned brand. The largest supplier of CVTs, 82% of CVT transmissions are from Bunge Power. In the past few years, Bunge Power and Geely, Beiqi, Dongfeng Liuqi, Dongfeng Xiaokang, Changfeng Cheetah, Jianghuai, Zhengzhou Haima, Jiangling Landwind, Southeast and Zhongtai have established long-term and stable cooperative relationships. By expanding the product portfolio, Bonzi Power has established a wide customer base in the global market, and successfully realized the extension of the product line to overseas markets.
Bunge Power flexibly adjusts product design solutions according to customer needs. The product sequence is fully developed to meet the matching needs from traditional power to strong hybrid power and pure electric vehicles. 'Our CVT products can be quickly and easily matched with different engines. A variety of models. On the one hand can help customers save development time, reduce development costs, on the other hand, the flexibility to meet different market needs, from large-scale production models to small-scale niche markets. 'Bunge Power Global CEO Cor van Otterloo said in an interview with Gasshi Automotive.
Bunge Power can flexibly adjust product design solutions according to customer needs
Exponential growth with product strength
Bunge Power was founded in Belgium in 1972 and entered China in 2007. In addition to China, Bunge Power has branches in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, China, Iran, Malaysia and India. Currently there are more employees worldwide. 3000 people, including more than 700 R&D personnel. As an independent energy-saving powertrain system supplier, Bunge Power specializes in the development, production and sales of CVT, and currently offers cleaning solutions for various electric modes. In addition to more than 40 years of experience in the design and production of CVTs, Bunge Power specializes in the development, production and supply of powertrains and dual clutch transmissions (DCT) for new energy sources and their components. Bunge Power successfully applied these leading experiences to the development and expansion of the target market. In 2017, Bunge Power achieved a 72% year-on-year growth in sales worldwide, maintaining a 41% increase over the past five years. The compound annual growth rate. China is the main market for Bunge Power. In 2017, the Chinese market contributed 90% of its global business.
'The Chinese market is the key to our development. In the early stages of the company's development, we realized the potential of Chinese OEMs, which enabled Bunge Power to grow into a multinational company of its current size.' Cor van Otterloo said. He pointed out that Although the Chinese auto market has begun to decline in terms of growth rate, thanks to the continuous improvement of the automatic transmission ratio, the automatic transmission market is still showing an annual double-digit growth. 'China has become the leader of new energy vehicles and the upcoming 48V technology. Market, we believe that in the next few years, the market share of automatic transmission will be further improved.'
Bonzi Power Nanjing Plant
CVT transmissions help customers achieve cost reduction and efficiency with the flexibility of different models. This is one of the key factors for its success. In addition, Bonzi Power has also implanted this flexibility into the corporate culture to meet And beyond the expectations of customers, continue to focus on customer needs, and targeted optimization and improvement of internal organizations. Under the combined effect of these factors, Bunge Power achieved exponential growth. Initially, Bunge Power used 24 In the year, the first 1 million CVTs were produced, but in the next 24 months, the second 1 million CVTs were successfully launched.
Bunge Power's latest continuously variable transmission VT5
In the past few years, Bonzi Power has successfully expanded its expansion strategy by expanding its product portfolio to build a broader customer base in the global market. In the view of Bonzi Power, new energy vehicles will develop at a faster rate than traditional ones. The automotive industry is envisioning more rapid. Over the years, through the development of hybrid and electric vehicle transmissions, Bonzi Power has been moving towards energy-efficient and electrified drive systems.
Constantly accelerating the electrification process
Advances in automatic transmission technology continue to broaden its application range, and market demand continues to increase. Especially the rapid development of new energy vehicles, new demands for new energy vehicle transmissions. Under this industry trend, starting at no In the recent years, its products have further covered DCT, hybrid and electric vehicle transmissions. At the same time, through the in-depth cooperation with XPS Weilai Drive Technology and PSA Group, it has rapidly expanded its electric vehicle transmission production and accelerated itself. Electrification process.
In order to meet the 100% electrification goal in 2025, the PSA Group began to accelerate its electrification, including weak hybrids, pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. In this context, the PSA Group has made Strategic decision, choose Bunge Power as the supplier of the next generation of electric transmission. Bunge Power was selected for its unique dual clutch automatic transmission (DCT) design. This ingenious design with complete patent protection, used more With fewer components, the transmission is lighter and more compact. In addition, this automatic transmission can achieve very good fuel consumption targets at competitive cost. The next generation of DCT products will also be integrated with 48V motors, which will be commonly used in Among the various models of the PSA.
'Our DCT uses a very original design. In general, the cost of DCT will be higher, because DCT is equivalent to two sets of manual transmission plus expensive dual clutch module, and related actuators, sensors and control units. Innovative in the clutch unit, it provides two reduction ratios. 'Cor van Otterloo said, 'Comparatively, the traditional DCT clutch unit has only a single clutch function. Our gearbox with independent intellectual property only An intermediate shaft is used (two other DCT gearboxes are required). This DCT design with fewer parts reduces costs and reduces gearbox weight and reduces installation space requirements.
The partnership with the PSA Group is an important part of Bunge Power's strategy to become a global auto parts supplier. To ensure organic and sustainable growth, Bunge Power focuses on two strategic directions: Maximizing its product range to cover multiple needs , and actively deployed in the global market. PSA Group became the first large European customer, which marked the beginning of a solid step in the second strategic direction of Bunge Power, consolidating its position in the European industry and promoting its Global expansion strategy.
Bunge Power Dual Clutch Transmission DT1
Speaking of this cooperation with XPT's drive technology, Cor van Otterloo said, 'NIO' has emerged from many EV new car powers, not only has a practical development route, but also is well-known in the industry. Even In the European automotive industry, NIO is also a very respected brand. 'He said that the layout of Weilai Automobile in the parts and components field is mainly realized through the subsidiary XPT. Their pure electric drive system is left behind. Deep impression. In response to this, it is Bunge Power's experience in products and EV products. At the same time, this cooperation also makes Bunge Power have a place in the NEV market.
According to Cor van Otterloo, in the PHEV and EV power sector, Bangdynamic is developing a series of new energy applications. In addition to establishing a joint venture with XPT, this year will also produce EV systems for a European customer. A Chinese customer mass-produces a CVT-based PHEV system. 'The simultaneous 48V hybrid system is also under development. An important development in this area is our cooperation contract with the PSA Group, which also marks the growth of Bonzi Power. A global company. '
Deepening the global market in the future
At present, with the support of policies and market environment in the world, new energy vehicles have entered a period of vigorous development. In this regard, Cor van Otterloo admits that China is already the leading force of global new energy vehicles, although the current financial subsidies still play a leading role. But in the next 10 years, the new energy vehicle (NEV) will surpass the traditional fuel vehicle economically. 'It is based on this judgment that we have made an in-depth layout in the direction of NEV. We recently worked with Weilai Automobile The subsidiary XPT has formed a joint venture company, which has also become a testimony to Bunge Power's march into the field of new energy vehicles.
And for the new forces that are emerging in China, talking about cooperation with these emerging car companies, Cor van Otterloo said, 'The automotive industry is on the eve of a new era. There have not been so many power options, too There have never been so many new car-building forces. Many of them have a solid capital base and an experienced management and operation team. Among them, such as Weilai Automobile, we have already entered into a joint venture with its subsidiary XPT. He said that Bunge Power is also very willing to cooperate with other NEV startups. This will be in parallel with the current CVT sales of OEM customers. In addition, he also said, 'In addition to the new forces of the car, we also Close cooperation with existing OEMs in the field of new energy. '
Talking about the strategic layout and development plan of Bunge Power in the Chinese market in the future, Cor van Otterloo said, 'We are in an exciting era. Our OEM customers have different product solutions for different degrees of electrification. Strong interest: from powertrains with primary mixing functions (such as start-stop function) to weak hybrid systems (48V) to fully electricized new energy powertrains. On this basis, different markets also Have different technical preferences. '
According to Cor van Otterloo, with the expansion of its global business, Bonzi Power is also working hard to develop a dual-clutch gearbox that is more suitable for the European and Indian markets. The gearbox will have a traditional (including P0 hybrid configuration). , 48V MHEV and high-voltage PHEV versions. He pointed out that in parallel with Bunge Power's continuous breakthrough in CVT products. The new VT5/250-280Nm products will have excellent fuel economy and cost advantages. And many original features, become the vane on the market. The gearbox family will also expand and provide 48V derivative.
'This year we are about to mass produce the HS2 system, which is a CVT-based PHEV product. We are perfecting a series of EV powertrain solutions. 'Cor van Otterloo said, 'The cooperation with XPT is our first in this field. At the same time, we are developing a series of cooperation projects with many global customers. We will mass produce our first EV products in Europe later this year.