Automatic merger

Spun off, merged, and growing, JATCO TransTechnology is now the second biggest automatic transmission specialist in the world, producing just under two million units per year.

JATCO TransTechnology specializes in the design, development, and manufacture of automatic transmissions, emphasized Chairman Kenichi Sasaki, although the company still produces a token number of manual transmissions. The company was formed in October 1999 by the merger of JATCO (Japan Automatic Transmission Co.) and TransTechnology. JATCO was established in 1970 as a joint venture between Ford, Nissan, and Mazda-with Ford investing 50% and the Japanese companies splitting the difference-to produce and supply automatic transmissions based on Ford's patents to Nissan and Mazda. “Join them if you can't beat their patents” was the rationale of the Japanese at the time.

Ford sold its share in JATCO to the Japanese in 1981, bringing Nissan's holdings to 64.4% and Mazda's to 34.7%. In the same year, after the expiration of the original Ford patents, Nissan began producing its own automatic transmissions at its Fuji factory for the fast-growing family of midsize, transverse-engine, front-wheel-drive models. Seeing diminishing sales to Nissan, JATCO developed its own automatics, first for longitudinally placed units in rear-wheel/four-wheel-drive applications, and began supplying them to Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Suzuki, and Nissan Diesel in the 1980s, followed by contracts with BMW in the early 1990s.