Batavia Transmission

Batavia Transmission is a transmission factory owned by Ford Motor Company in Batavia, Ohio. The plant opened on July 24, 1980. The plant produced front-wheel drive transmissions for Ford, Mercury, and Mazda vehicles. The original transmission produced was the ATX which was utilized in the Ford Taurus, The Mercury Sable, the Ford EXP, the Mercury Lynx, the Ford Escort, the Mercury LN7, the Ford Tempo, and the Mercury Topaz. The ATX was manufactured until 1993. Production of the CD4E Transmission started in 1992 and continued through the closing of the plant in 2008. The CD4E was used in the Ford Mondeo(Europe), the Ford Escape, the Ford Probe, the Ford Contour, the Mercury Cougar, the Mercury Mystique, the Mercury Mariner, the Mazda 626, the Mazda Tribute, and the Mazda MX6. In 1999, Ford partnered with ZF Friedrichshafen AG at the Batavia plant to continue production of the CD4E and to design and assemble new CVT transmissions. The joint-partnership was named ZF Batavia with ZF Friedrichshafen AG holding a 51% majority in the agreement. In 2005, Ford re-purchased 100% ownership of the Batavia location and renamed it Batavia Transmissions LLC. As Batavia Transmissions LLC the plant produced the CFT23 and CFT30 CVT Transmissions from 2005 to 2007. The CFT23 was used in the Ford Focus C-MAX and the CFT30 was used in the 2005 and 2006 models of the Ford Freestyle, the Ford Five Hundred, and the Mercury Montego. The plant assembled the final CD4E Transmission on Friday, June 20, 2008. Production of service parts continued at the plant thru the middle of September, 2008. The planned closing of the Ford Batavia Transmission Plant in 2008 is part of Ford's "Way Forward" plan, with some workers transferring to Ford's Sharonville Transmission Plant.

ee also

* List of Ford factories