Antonov has signed a cooperation agreement with China’s Chong Qing Landai Industries and Lifan Industry Group.
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The UK-based vehicle transmission specialist said today that the deal, relating to its TX-6 automatic transmission, will see Lifan enter the engineering programme to bring the TX-6 into production.
The first step will be to build a TX-6 prototype into two Lifan 620 cars, which is expected to take about six months. Engineering costs will be covered jointly by Antonov and Landai. Once the project has been successfully completed, Lifan will be a preferred customer for the TX-6 and is expected to place an order for the first batch of transmissions to be produced.
COFTEC, a governmental body in the Chongqing province, has played a significant role in bringing the three parties together and will play a further role in governmental support of the projects, a statement said.
Landai said that the deal would help it become the major transmission manufacturer in China, whilst Lifan said it wanted to secure at least the first 10,000 units produced plus a percentage of planned production.
Dr. Jos E. Haag, executive chairman of Antonov commented: “I am delighted with the fast pace of progress in China and to have gained the support of Lifan as a Chinese car manufacturer.”
