ZF's PACE Award-winning innovative transmissions

November 19, 2018 12:00 AM

Three ZF transmissions earned Automotive News PACE Awards — in 2002, 2010 and 2014. Each gearbox represented a breakthrough.

In 2002, four- and five-speed transmissions were common. But a six-speed? ZF did not simply tack on one more gear. It used a new Lepelletier gear set, which required less space than the previous setup. That enabled ZF to design a gearbox architecture that was electronic, required no mechanical linkages to control it and had the capacity to handle high-torque diesels while being compatible with any common drivetrain configuration.

Winner's box

To commemorate 25 years of PACE Awards for supplier innovation, Automotive News is looking back at one of the many winners.

2002, 2010, 2014: ZF

Trade name: 6-, 8- and 9-speed transmissions

Innovation: 3 transmissions, each representing a breakthrough

Why it resonated: The 6-speed adopted a new architecture to use space more efficiently than existing 4- and 5-speed gearboxes; the 8-speed had the flexibility to pair with gasoline, diesel or hybrid powerplants; and the 9-speed, ZF’s first transverse-mounted transmission for front-wheel-drive vehicles, offered size and fuel-economy superiority.

Compared with four- and five-speed transmissions then on the market, ZF’s six-speed had greater torque capacity, 30 percent fewer parts, 13 percent less weight, a 5 to 7 percent improvement in fuel consumption, better acceleration and a smaller package size.

Eight years later, ZF won again for its eight-speed transmission, designed to work with gasoline, diesel or hybrid powerplants.

In 2014, ZF won for a nine-speed designed for front- and all-wheel-drive cars and crossovers. Until then, the transmission specialist had no transverse-mounted gearbox for fwd vehicles.

ZF’s nine-speed transmission provided a wide spread of gear ratios. This kept engine rpms in the optimal range, increasing fuel efficiency. The design was also simple and compact, with two of the four planetary gear sets nested together.

A plant was built in Gray Court, S.C., to make the nine-speed. Its original production capacity was set at 800,000 transmissions a year. But at the grand opening, ZF said it already needed to bump capacity 50 percent to 1.2 million a year.