Big extension In UK by IF
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A 100 PER CENT increase in the sales of ZF transmissions in the UK within three years was forecast by Dr E. Braun, joint managing director of ZF Germany, at a function in Stratford upon Avon on Tuesday. He also announced that a subsidiary, ZF Gears (GB) Ltd, at Beeston, Notts, would be the centre of a services network with six depots catering for the entire country.
It is anticipated that sales of gearboxes for highway vehicles in the UK, currently supplied to Vauxhall and ERF, will be expanded to include other makers, with emphasis on the synchromesh type.
According to a technical spokesman of the company: "Many potential users in the UK have yet to sample a really durable synchromesh system" — which, he said, had many advantages over constant-mesh transmissions, such as certainty of control at critical moments.
The range of gearboxes to be marketed in the UK will comprise models of 204Nm (150 lb ft) torque to 1,224Nm (900 lb ft). Semi-automatic and automatic gearboxes are being developed based on synchromesh systems with torque converters and these would give 80 per cent of the performance of a torque converter epicyclic gearbox at 60 pet-cent of the cost. The transmission of the latter type, developed for cars, will be suitable for light delivery vehicles. And a tie-up with Sunstrand of Illinois, USA, will provide reciprocal marketing advantages in Europe and America for hydrostatic transmissions, initially for off-highway vehicle application.