Another company now consigned to the history books is Antonov Automotive Technologies, the UK-based transmission technology specialist at 2 Hawkes Drive, Heathcote Industrial Estate, Warwick.
Roumen Antonov had escaped to the West from Bulgaria in 1988 at the age of 44.
The first of his inventions to attract public attention was his unique automatic automotive transmission.
Antonov’s TX6 six-speed design also offers a low entry cost to the application of a full electronically-controlled six-speed gearbox. The Six-speed automatic transmissions are much desired by Chinese consumers but had to be imported by Chinese car manufactures and so a joint venture with Chongqing Loncin in China was agreed.
In 2007, Antonov Automotive Technologies Chongqing Ltd. was founded.
On 5 June 2009, Antonov signed an agreement to form a Joint Venture Company with Chongqing Landai Industry Co., Ltd. This JV company, Chongqing EFA Transmission Co., Ltd., supported by the transmission engineering expertise of Antonov and the volume transmission manufacturing expertise of Landai, will now finalise the production development of the TX6 and launch the product to the Chinese market in 2011.
But by 2011 the design for the TX-6 has been frozen for production with critical transmission components to be supplied by European-based suppliers like Conti Temic Microelectronic, Hofer Powertrain and Magna Powertrain. Later, these components are expected to be replaced by local players to ensure competitive pricing. The final validation and testing programme for the gearboxes is slated to kick off by September with transmissions to be built by mid-2012.
They also produced a two-speed gearbox for the Rotrex Centrifugal Supercharger, this is produced in Denmark by Rotrex A/S. Its downside is its low engine torque production at low engine revolutions and the two-speed gearbox produced by Antonov was too eliminated the problem. I enquired about this being sold to the general public in 2009 but they said it was destined for OEM companies only.
By 21 January 2013 a petition was placed on the company by a local solicitor and creditor it then looks like the company went into insolvency.

Perhaps if they had sold one or two to the public they might still have been in business today.

Antonov gearbox pdf