Magna Powertrain/GETRAG is a supplier of transmission systems for passenger cars and light-duty utility vehicles, based in Untergruppenbach - 45 kilometers north of Stuttgart. Magna Powertrain/GETRAG has around 14,200 employees in 20 sites around the world and sold 3.9 million transmissions in 2015. As of January 2016, GETRAG has been part of automotive supplier Magna.

Magna Powertrain/GETRAG’s core competence lies in developing and producing efficient transmissions and transmission components that help decrease fuel consumption and emissions. Its traditional expertise is in manual, automated and newest dual-clutch transmissions, but Magna Powertrain/GETRAG has also developed transmissions for alternative drivetrains in hybrid or fully electric cars for 20 years. While the big car manufacturers face great challenges adjusting to electric mobility, it may be even harder for conventional drivetrain component makers like Magna Powertrain/GETRAG. These suppliers are often highly specialised in very few and very specific components. But Magna Powertrain/GETRAG has vowed to offer transmission system solutions for any future drivetrain design and combination of combustion and electric motors. The question remains as to how it will find new market segments to generate sufficient revenues as electric mobility threatens to render its traditional core competencies obsolete.

• Further reading: CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers, CLEW factsheet Early e-car starter BMW plans new mobility sprint, CLEW factsheet Reluctant Daimler plans “radical” push into new mobility world, CLEW factsheet Dieselgate forces VW to embrace green mobility
• CLEW research tour: Climate, clean air and digital age: Shifting gears in car country?
• Date of publication: March 2017