ZF Receives the Biggest Order in its History from BMW
Recently, it became known that ZF has officially taken on the obligation to provide its sophisticated 8-speed automatic transmissions to the German carmaker BMW within the terms of the record-braking agreement.
Both companies have not unveiled the deal
value, but ZF representatives implied that this transaction has “a two digit
billion Euro value”, which turns out to be the biggest order in the history of
the German supplier of powertrain components
About a month ago, it has transpired that BMW
has been looking for a new supplier of gearboxes on the US territory because of
unclear situation with possible tariffs on auto components imported to the USA.
Already at that time, ZF has been considered as the leading candidate for this
role; both companies have a record of previous cooperation and ZF has a major
manufacturing facility on the US territory specialized on manufacturing of
powertrain components.
The updated version of the ZF transmission,
which has been manufactured for a decade, is designed for embedding of electric
drives. This also includes hybrid options.
Initially, the new “gear shifting” product will
be launched into a large-scale manufacturing in 2022 at ZF’s facility in in
Germany (Saarbrucken), but later ZF wants to expand the production to the
facilities in the USA (possibly the Gray Court plant) and China.
It is claimed that the new gearbox can be
mounted on cars with a front-longitudinal drive arrangement. The main
distinctive feature of the new gear shifting solution is the implementation of
the e-drive. According to ZF officials, the company has been gradually adjusting
its product to the high e-mobility requirements. Thanks to a modular design equipped
with different starting components, the next-gen hybrid gearbox will be great
solution for different types of passenger cars (gasoline-driven or electric).
Thanks to its adjustability, the new product from ZF will allow BMW not only to manufacture more environment-oriented car models with reduced CO2 emissions, but also to adopt to the new market requirements. ZF expects that the new product will capture the attention of other major carmakers.
