Dana Cardanes inaugurated a new USD 21 million plant in Querétaro, Mexico with a production line that will manufacture components for Toyota. The first production line, which has already started with 110 employees, will be joined later in 2023 by two more lines for a total annual production of 545,000 units with 300 employees in all. Dana Cardanes’ Operations Director, Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, explained that the three production lines are being installed in the new 917-square-meter facility, where cardan shafts (drive shafts) will be produced for use in Toyota trucks. (Mexico-Now article on January 18, 2023)

Xuchang Yuandong Drive Shaft Co., Ltd. (Yuandong Drive) announced that it plans to increase a CNY 50 million investment in Henan Sanjia Automotive Parts Co., Ltd. (Henan Sanjia) to acquire 60.98% of the company’s equity, and sign capital increase agreements with the company and other shareholders. The two parties will jointly develop auto parts such as universal joints and center bearings. After the capital increase, the registered capital of Henan Sanjia will be changed from CNY 32 million to 82 million, and Yuandong Drive will become the controlling shareholder of the company. (From a Yuandong Drive SZSE announcement dated December 14, 2022)

JTEKT Corporation (JTEKT) announced that its group company, Koyo Sealing Techno Co., Ltd. (Koyo Sealing), has developed JTEKT Ultra Compact Seal, a narrow differential side seal that contributes to downsizing e-axles. A differential side seal is an oil seal attached on the connection between the differential and the driveshaft, preventing oil leakage from the inside and foreign matter intrusion from the outside. The newly developed rubber material used in the seal improves low-temperature performance 1.2 times better than conventional materials and optimizes the tension force composition ratio (rubber/spring), improving eccentric tracking performance. By using the new material, the lip length of the inner seal circumference has been shortened by 20%; combining left and right portions of differential side seals contributes to a 4mm reduction in e-axle dimensions. (From a press release dated October 24, 2022)