On October 10, 2014, transmission manufacturer Getrag agreed to the joint development of dual clutch transmissions with its Chinese joint venture partner DongfengGetrag Transmission Co., Ltd. The contract was signed in the presence of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang as part of the Sino-German forum in Berlin.
DongfengGetrag Transmission will start the manufacturing of this dual clutch transmission for compact cars as of 2016 in Wuhan, China. Getrag Chief Technical Officer Didier Lexa commented: "We are delighted that Getrag is expanding the development and manufacture of highly modern dual clutch transmissions in China and thus strengthening its international cooperation."
During the seventh Sino-German forum for economic and technological cooperation under the leadership of Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Sigmar Gabriel, Getrag was joined by twelve Federal ministries and 14 Chinese departments. Getrag and Dongfeng were involved in various working groups on the subject of automotive industry.
GETRAG is one of the largest system suppliers for transmissions worldwide with approximately 13,250 employees at 23 locations. Headquartered in Untergruppenbach, Germany, the company develops and manufactures transmission solutions for the automotive industry. The transmission portfolio comprises manual, automated manual and dual clutch transmissions. Getrag also offers a range of hybridization and electrification of transmissions. In 2013, GETRAG reached a turnover of 3.2 billion Euros.
The mother company of Dongfeng Motor Group Company Limited, headquartered in Wuhan, is the Peoples Republic of Chinas second largest automotive manufacturer in terms of production volume (2011: 3.06 million vehicles). Dongfengs principal products include commercial vehicles (heavy duty trucks, medium trucks, light trucks, buses and engines, auto parts and vehicle manufacturing equipment for commercial vehicles) and passenger vehicles (sedans, MPVs, SUVs and engines, auto parts and vehicle manufacturing equipment for passenger vehicles). Dongfeng has a number of successful joint ventures in the PRC with leading international OEMs (e.g. Honda, Nissan and PSA) and Tier 1 suppliers (e.g. Cummins, Lear and Visteon).
