Magneti Marelli of Italy and SAIC Motor Corp. have signed a joint venture in China to produce hydraulic components for automated manual transmissions.

 

The venture will be located in the Shanghai region and start production in the second half of 2009. Shanghai Automobile Gear Works, a subsidiary of SAIC Motor, is the Chinese partner.

 

Magneti Marelli, owned by Italy's Fiat Group, supplies automated manual transmissions to 27 automakers. Recently the company changed the name of the transmissions from Selespeed to Freechoice.

 

The transmissions are based on technology developed by Marelli for Formula One racing cars. They can be adapted for use on high-performance sports cars and small and medium-sized cars.

 

Magneti Marelli employs 28,000 worldwide. In 2008, its revenues were 5.4 billion euros (48.83 billion yuan).