ZF's new auto: plenty of life in the old planetary 'box yet

ZF Friedrichshafen's new 8HP70 eight-speed transmission, successor to the company's mega-successful six-speed, is already winning acclaim after making its debut in BMW's 2009 760 and 5-Series Gran Turismo.

When ZF introduced its first six-speed auto in 2001, it rolled out across the world through BMWs, Jaguars and Aston-Martins to name a few. Amid numerous awards and plaudits, it went on to become a long-standing industry benchmark worldwide.

In second-generation form ZF found the economies of scale to make its way into standard product like Ford's local Falcon.

The new product shows improvement on virtually every front. Even though it has two more cogs, it has fewer moving parts, helping shift times drop to a few milliseconds.

Channelling conventional internal combustion power, it reduces fuel consumption by an average 6 per cent, ZF claims. And the new unit's modular design allows auto makers to extend those fuel savings to as much as 25 per cent through a variety of hybrid powertrains.

The key lies in a housing that allows simple, cost-effective interchanging of the torque converter with electric motors for micro, mild or full parallel hybrid.

It's an each-way-every-way bet that experts from the Society of Automotive Engineering say "shows that the technology of 'conventional' automatic transmissions with torque converter and planetary gear sets still contain a lot of potential", combining the proven-technology advantages of market familiarity and cost-benefit ration with the flexibility automakers need as they diversify their powertrain options.

The unit is already slated to turn up in Bentley's new Mulsanne and the Rolls Royce Ghost. Its diversity of application helps ensure that like its predecessor -- of which ZF has been selling more than a million a year -- it's likely to make its way downmarket over time.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at www.carsales.mobi