Antonov to utilise Eaton expertise to support production of TX6

Antonov, an automotive technology company, announces that it has entered into an agreement with Eaton Corporation, a leading automotive industry supplier, to provide hydraulic transmission controls for Antonov’s TX6 six-speed automatic transmission system.

The TX6 was recently licensed to one of China’s leading vehicle manufacturers for high volume series production. Under the production licence agreement, the manufacturer has non-exclusive worldwide rights to manufacture and sell transmissions covered by Antonov’s 6-speed automatic patents with series production anticipated to commence in 2008.

Eaton, a world leader in the development of hydraulic valves and solenoids necessary for the selection of gears in automatic transmission systems, will integrate its technology into Antonov’s TX6 automatic transmission. Any intellectual property rights derived from jointly-developed inventions will be allocated according to the two companies’ areas of expertise: Antonov will own the rights relating to mechanical power transmissions and Eaton will own the rights relating to hydraulic systems and controls.

John Moore, CEO of Antonov, said: “We are delighted that Eaton is agreeing to commit its significant technical resources to support the TX6 programme as it moves to high volume production. China is a key market for Antonov and this agreement with Eaton will further underpin Antonov’s commercialisation strategy in the region.”

He added: “The automotive industry faces the major challenge of significantly reducing vehicle carbon emissions. As existing technologies mature, it is important to seek new opportunities to innovate. Antonov is not a business founded on a single invention, but rather on a continuous stream of innovation that reacts to the needs of the market. The new TX6 automatic transmission is a good example of this continuous process that has resulted in a compact automatic transmission system that virtually matches the efficiency of a manual transmission.”