ZF hits a million with its TraXon transmissions

Too produce a million anything is impressive, but a million truck transmissions? That a lot of cogs!

The ZF Commercial Vehicle Solutions division has achieved a major production milestone for its TraXon transmission system as the 1 millionth unit rolling off the assembly line at Friedrichshafen this week. Launched in 2014, ZF’s TraXon has achieved a strong reputation for efficiency and performance.

“When it comes to transmission systems, TraXon sets the standards for commercial vehicles and off-highway applications,” said Winfried Gründler who heads the driveline systems product line for ZF’s Commercial Vehicle Solutions division.

“Manufacturing the one millionth TraXon system is a proud achievement for our production team and is a statement to TraXon’s enduring appeal as a lightweight, robust and intelligent system.”

“TraXon has established an industry-leading reputation thanks to the quality of its design, reliability, and its ability to deliver energy efficiency, making it a valuable solution for commercial vehicle owners in terms of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). It will continue to provide vehicle manufacturers and fleet operators with substantial value well into the future.”

In a press statement, ZF said it was only last year that TraXon reached the 500,000-unit milestone, at that time, the transmission was made almost exclusively at the main plant in Friedrichshafen. After production was expanded globally to ZF’s plants in Jiaxing (China) and Sorocaba (Brazil), it has taken just 18 months to double the number of units in order to meet the growing demand for efficient systems from customers all over the world.

Building on the high technological level of the TraXon system, ZF is gearing up for the launch of its successor, the TraXon 2, which will go into series production in 2024.

TraXon 2 will include further innovations, including ZF's in-house mechatronics and a new electronic control unit. The latter will enable new software functions through outstanding computing power, such as cyber security and updates via mobile communications/WLAN – so-called over-the-air updates.

In our market, the latest DAF, IVECO and MAN trucks all use ZF transmissions. The most recent DAF and MAN heavy-duty trucks use the TraXon transmission which is available in either 12-speed or 16-speed overdrive configurations.