ZF 8-speed automatic transmission

From Yenra

Announced November 5, 2009, ZF's 8-speed automatic transmission was named a 2010 Automotive News PACE Award finalist.

The ZF 8-speed automatic made its debut on the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo and 760Li, and will also appear on the Bentley Mulsanne and Rolls Royce Ghost models. This all-new design shifts in milliseconds, is similar in size to a 6-speed automatic but with fewer parts, and improves fuel economy by 14 percent over 5-speed automatic transmissions and 6 percent over 6-speed automatics from ZF.

The modular design allows for integration into hybrid vehicles, simply by replacing the torque converter with an electric motor, resulting in a fuel economy improvement of approximately 25 percent.

When designing the 8-speed automatic transmission, ZF engineers were not concerned with using a specific number of gears. Instead, the goal was to develop a new transmission that improved fuel economy by at least 6 percent over the current-generation of 6-speed automatic, while also improving the power-to-weight ratio, shift speed and quality, while increasing torque load.