The country's first commercial vertical 8AT automatic transmission rolled off the production line at Shengrui Transmission on Feb 25. Shengrui Transmission is an automatic transmissions manufacturer based in Weifang, Shandong province.

The country's first commercial vertical 8AT automatic transmission rolls off the production line at Shengrui Transmission on Feb 25. [Photo/Dazhong News]

"The vertical 8AT automatic transmission will be mainly used in pickup trucks, light trucks, vans and other types of commercial vehicles. It is a brand new product independently developed by Shengrui Transmission with advanced international, integrated, intelligent and efficient energy-saving technology," said Li Wenguan, deputy chief engineer of Shengrui Transmission.

Shengrui Transmission's independently developed front-drive 8-speed automatic transmission won the first place at the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2016.

The modern manufacturing facility at Shengrui Transmission [Photo/Dazhong News]

Prior to the introduction of Shengrui's product, China had no vertical 8AT production, and all vertical AT automatic transmissions were manufactured and supplied by foreign companies.

Shengrui Transmission developed this vertical 8AT after more than two years of research and development, and it now has totally autonomous intellectual property rights, breaking the monopoly of foreign technology in the field of vertical automatic transmissions. In this field, the company has also received a number of innovative patents.