Last year, Lexus became the first automaker to introduce a production eight-speed automatic transmission in the latest LS460. Recently, German transmission manufacturer ZF announced a new eight-speed of its own which is claimed to provide a 14-percent boost in fuel efficiency compared to a five-speed. It looks like Audi and BMW will likely be the first to directly challenge Lexus when they start using the ZF. Audi may be first out of the gate in 2009, with eight-speed installations in the A8, Q7 and the expected A7 coupe. BMW will probably follow a year later with the X6 and the next-generation 7 series getting the extra gears. Mercedes-Benz already has a seven-speed that it builds on its own. Mercedes' powertrain chief admits that an extra gear could be added to the unit but that the incremental improvement would be limited. As more gears are added, the weight and complexity of the system increases and the improvements become smaller and smaller. Seven and eight-speed transmissions will likely remain the maximum for the foreseeable future and six-speeds will probably take the bulk of volume in mainstream segments.

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German transmission supplier ZF has just started building production samples of a new electric motor that will be part of Mercedes-Benz new mild hybrid system. Mercedes co-developed the system with BMW and displayed it in several different vehicles shown at last fall's Frankfurt Motor Show. The first production application is expected to be the S400 hybrid which will pair a 3.5L gasoline V-6 with the 15kW electric motor/generator and a lithium ion battery to recapture energy from regenerative braking.

The motors are being manufactured by ZF's Sachs division at a plant in Schweinfurt Germany. ZF claims to be the first company to manufacture hybrid modules in Europe. Full production starts this fall at the rate of 35,000 annually and will eventually be ramped up to 200,000 a year. The Mercedes-BMW mild hybrid sandwiches the motor/generator between the engine and transmission to provide some low speed electric drive, electric power boost at higher speeds, auto start-stop and regenerative energy recapture. ZF currently has eight hybrid development projects with four manufacturers including Mercedes with production launches scheduled over the next four years.

[Source: ZF Friedrichshafen AG]