The Cincinnati Post - Jobs at stake

To CVT OR NOT TO CVT?
That's the Question for Batavia Ohio

One of the plants that Ford has targeted for closure is the transmission plant in Batavia Ohio. This plant, formerly operated as a joint venture with German transmission maker ZF, makes two products, a continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) used on the Ford Freestyle and Ford Five Hundred, and a conventional 4-speed automatic. The 4-speed automatic is being phased out. When the 4-speed is gone, the plant will be more than half empty.

According to the Cincinnati Post article linked below, Ford had planned to make 1 million CVT transmissions per year in Batavia by 2005. The actual figure ended up being less than 1/4 that number.

The CVT transmission is usually praised by owners - once they get used to it. It uses a belt and pulleys instead of gears. In the Ford Freestyle, the CVT allows the vehicle to deliver better than average acceleration with a smaller than average engine. While Ford is quick to point out that the acceptance rate of the CVT is below expectations, it should be noted that Ford hasn't even offered the CVT in products other than the Freestyle, Five Hundred, and the closely-related Mercury Monterey. Ford will likely offer the engine in its upcoming "crossovers" the Ford Edge, as well as their Lincoln and Mercury counterparts. I suspect that all three versions of the crossover won't amount to 100,000 units. It's hard to sell a million transmissions when you only offer them on car lines that sell 200,000 units. Unless Ford deems the CVT worthy of installation in more car lines, and higher-volume lines at that, it looks like Batavia's days are numbered.

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