ZF in luxury vehicles
Geared up exclusiveness
Whether Bentley, Rolls Royce or Maserati, when you’re driving any one of these luxury vehicles, you’re looking for a unique driving experience. ZF engineers customize automatic transmissions for each and every model down to a T.
ZF automatic transmissions for luxury motors
When Patrick Peter drives through the countryside in his Aston Martin, there aren’t usually very many other cars in sight. And when there are, they appear to be the same sort of vehicles, yet there’s one small difference that makes it all the more significant: Peter is on a test drive, or, to be exact, he’s doing an application exam with a customer. The application is the precise customization of an automatic transmission to a traditional driveline. During such test drives, the customer and the ZF application engineer take a ride together to check out how the transmission handles in various weather conditions and how it shifts gears. In the end, of course, it’s always highly subjective: it’s about having the right “shifting feeling.”
“One vehicle should feel different from the next,” says Peter. Each of the manufacturers’ conceptions tend to differ in the nuances, and it’s the nuances that are so important. Peter, the ZF Application Engineer, knows them well. He’s got that feeling in his foot – the Aston Martin feeling – and he knows to produce it. “Aston Martin wants its cars to feel sporty, which means that shifting has to be quick so that you can get the proper shifting feeling,” says Peter.
Clever transmission concept
From Aston Martin to Maserati, Alpina to Bently to Rolls Royce and beyond: as different as these vehicles may be, the manufacturers’ demands on a transmission’s quality and character are comparably high. ZF covers the entire spectrum with its 6-speed automatic transmission and 8-speed automatic transmissions . They are designed for a torque range of 300 to 1,000 Nm (approx. 221 to 738 lb-ft) They do their job as accurately and dependably in a luxury sports car with 650 hp as they do in a sedan with a full hybrid drive, an all-wheel off-roader or a standard production vehicle.
All customers benefit from the know-how and quality standards that serve as the foundation of ZF’s 8-speed automatic transmission. The major manufacturers receive a transmission that is designed to meet a wide enough range of applications to still perform well during extreme motorization and in challenging driving situations. The quality of a basic transmission that complies with the standards of a larger series production ends up benefiting the smaller manufacturers.
Sensitivity in measurement
The finer differences that give each luxury vehicle its own unique shifting feeling have to do with the electronic control system in the transmission, or more accurately, with the data generated by this system’s software. Standard production manufacturers usually have a very concrete idea of how their cars’ shifting performance should feel. The corresponding data sets are then developed and given to ZF to be recorded. “Smaller manufacturers, on the other hand, don’t carry out this task themselves, because of lack of personnel,” explains Patrick Peter, “That’s why they appreciate working with a highly experienced supplier.”
