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Analysis Report: CVT (Japanese, U.S. and European markets)
CVTs becoming increasingly unique to the Japanese market
2025/12/08
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List of Suppliers
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I. Introduction
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II. Overview
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III. Activities of major CVT manufacturers and in-house OEMs
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IV. CVT component suppliers overview
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V. CVTs and suppliers by vehicle model
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Ⅵ. Sales of major CVT suppliers
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VII. CVT manufacturing sites (suppliers and OEM in-house)
List of Suppliers
I. Introduction
The transmission is a unit component that is used to obtain the desired output from the output shaft of the power source (mainly the engine), in other words, the rotational speed, torque, and direction of rotation that are appropriate for the driving conditions. Together with the power source, it is an important product that determines the marketability of a model, including its driving performance, fuel efficiency, and driving feel. Therefore, as with engines and drive motors, many transmissions are manufactured in-house as automakers take the initiative, and only a few major suppliers are able to supply transmission units. Therefore, as accurately as possible, this report will distinguish between in-house products made by automobile manufacturers and those made by suppliers, and describe the transmission based on its relationship with the engine and equipped model.
Transmissions are broadly classified into automatic transmissions (AT) and manual transmissions (MT), and automatic transmissions are further subdivided as follows.
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This report details the sub-category of automatic transmissions, as shown in the above figure, known as continuously variable transmissions (CVT).
- Friction-type step-less transmissions using a belt or chain to transfer power (hereinafter referred to as mechanical CVT, including some step systems).
- Transmissions for Toyota and other hybrid vehicles that perform stepless shifting by a built-in electric motor/generator via a power split mechanism (hereinafter referred to as electric CVTs or hybrid transmissions. Although the structure of an electric CVT is completely different from that of a mechanical CVT using a belt and pulleys, it is functionally classified and included in the stepless gear shift category).
Automatic transmissions are outside the scope of this report.
- Refer to the Analysis Report: Automatic Transmission (AT) for step-type automatic transmissions using a torque converter and planetary gears (hereinafter referred to as AT or step AT, including AT with MT mode).
- Refer to the Analysis Report: Automatic Transmission (AT) for transmissions for hybrid vehicles, those with a structure in which a motor and clutch are incorporated in a step AT mechanism (Nissan RWD hybrid vehicles, models equipped with transmissions manufactured by ZF mainly in Europe, and Toyota's multi-stage hybrid system).
- Although types of automatic transmissions, DCTs (dual clutch transmission) and AMTs (automated manual transmission or semi-automatic transmission), which are based on MT and have automated gear changes and clutch operation, are so-called 2-pedal manual transmissions.
The CVT is a mechanism that shifts gears steplessly, instead of switching gears stepwise as in a step AT. Since it is stepless, the major advantage of a CVT is that it can run at the optimum gear ratio. Since the gear ratio can be matched to the engine speed range where the engine efficiency is good, it is compatible with mini-vehicles and compact cars with small displacement engines and limited power. For this reason, most of the automatic transmissions installed on mini-vehicles and A-D segment class front-wheel drive vehicles in the Japanese market in recent years are CVTs. As will be described in detail later, although this report targets the Japanese and Western markets, the current CVT business is essentially a product unique to the Japanese market and Japanese OEMs.
Unless otherwise specified, for the remainder of this report the term AT will be used to refer to automatic transmissions, CVT to refer to mechanical continuously variable transmissions, and electric CVT to refer to hybrid transmissions.
Transmission type by sales region: The CVT is essentially a product unique to the Japanese market and Japanese OEMs.
| Region | Market size Passenger car production volume* |
MT (％) | AT (％) | Applicable automatic transmission | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-large vehicle production volume※ | CVT | Electric CVT | AT (multi-step) | DCT | AMT | |||
| Japan | 7.5 million units | 2 | 98 | ◎ | ○Toyota HV | ○ | ｘ | ▲Suzuki |
| Americas | 18.5 million units | 3 | 97 | ○Japanese vehicles | △Toyota HV | ◎ | ○European vehicles | |
| Europe | 15.0 million units | 60 | 40 | ｘ | △Toyota HV | ◎ | ◎ | |
| China | 27.0 million units | 5 | 95 | ○Japanese vehicles | △Toyota HV | ◎ | ◎European vehicles | |
[Figure 1. 2024 actual（Created by MarkLines)]
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