Volkswagen starts production at its new component plant in North China.

Volkswagen starts production of the latest generation of dual-clutch gearboxes (DSG) at its new components plant at Tianjin in North China, the company stated in a media release. The plant built with an investment of 265 million in the first phase, will have an initial production capacity of 450,000 units annually and will be increased to 1.2 million units by 2016.

Volkswagen will manufacture DQ380 gearbox designed especially for the Chinese market for the first time at this plant. It will also produce the third generation of the EA888 engine at this plant which the company previously made at its Changchun and Shanghai plants.

With new gearbox the company aims to accomplish a fuel consumption reduction of 0.5l/ 100 Km and therefore a CO2 reduction of 12g/km compared to the previous generations. The new gearboxes will be used in several group models in China in the future with the production rolling out soon.

ET