Bosch marked the official opening of a high-tech facility in Vietnam for the production of push belts used for Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT) in automobiles. Situated at Long Thanh Industrial Zone, Dong Nai Province, the plant is part of the Bosch Group's Gasoline Systems division and spans over a land area of 160,000 square meters. It will produce up to 1.6 million push belts in its first year, which can be fitted into vehicles ranging from sub-compact cars to sports utility vehicles with diesel, gasoline or hybrid engines.
With some 200 associates, the plant is the first hi-tech CVT push belt production site for Bosch in Southeast Asia, and the second of its kind for Bosch worldwide after Tilburg in the Netherlands. By 2015, total investment estimated of some 55 million euros and expected production volume of 2.3 million units for Asian customers. Bosch's CVT technology uses up to 15 % less fuel than manual gearboxes. This also reduces carbon dioxide emission by up to 15%.
