Will change the competition pattern of AMT heavy trucks! Foton-ZF transmission joint venture factory starts production

Starting from April 18, 2019, ZF TraXon, one of the most widely used AMT transmissions in domestic automatic heavy-duty trucks, has its own Chinese name - Chuansheng.

On April 18, the launch ceremony of ZF's commercial vehicle transmission in China and the launch ceremony of the joint venture factory between ZF and Foton were held in Jiaxing Economic and Technological Development Zone. At the event, Foton and ZF announced for the first time the Chinese trademark name of the TraXon automatic transmission that will be mass-produced in the new factory: Chuansheng.

The ZF and Foton joint venture factory launched production line ceremony

TraXon Chinese trademark release site

New transmission plant started production

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China's economy will enter a period of deep adjustment. China's economic structure will gradually shift from investment-driven to consumption-driven. The volume of road freight related to consumption will continue to grow, but the market capacity will mature and stabilize. The overall market capacity will stabilize at 3.2-3.3 million vehicles, and heavy-duty commercial vehicles will stabilize at around 900,000 units, exceeding 50% of the global market.

Xu Heyi, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of BAIC Group, delivered a speech

With the rapid development of the logistics industry, the continuous tightening of regulations and standards, and the improvement of user requirements, the demand in China's commercial vehicle market has been rapidly upgraded, with the proportion of low-end products rapidly declining and the proportion of mid-to-high-end products rapidly increasing. In particular, due to the high efficiency, reliability, intelligence, comfort and fuel efficiency of AMT automatic transmissions, commercial vehicle automatic transmissions have gradually been sought after and recognized by the market. It is expected that mid-range products will become the mainstream of the market after 2020, and high-end demand will enter a period of rapid growth after 2025.

Wolf-Henning Scheider, CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen AG, delivering a speech

In order to cope with the huge changes in the structure of China's commercial vehicle market and adapt to the trend of high-end and automation in the commercial vehicle market, ZF has joined hands with Foton Motor, China's largest commercial vehicle company, to establish two automatic transmission joint ventures to produce commercial vehicle transmissions.

Four ZF transmission products produced by the joint venture

One of the joint ventures (ZF Foton) is dedicated to providing transmissions for heavy commercial vehicles, with ZF holding a 51% stake. The company's main goal is to produce and sell the TraXon commercial vehicle automatic transmission system in China. The other joint venture (ZF Foton) mainly provides transmissions for the Chinese light commercial vehicle market, in which ZF holds a 40% stake. Both joint ventures will be fully responsible for the company's operations, while third-party sales and engineering applications will be carried out through another independent ZF organization.

The products of the two joint ventures will fully cover the market demand for light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, with a total output of 550,000 units, making it one of the largest production bases for ZF commercial vehicle transmissions in the world. At the same time, the joint venture will introduce a new ZF production line, strictly implement ZF's production and manufacturing standards and processes, and provide high-quality transmission products that are synchronized with the European market to meet the huge mid-to-high-end market demand in the future Chinese market.

Foton Auman and Aumark equipped with domestically produced ZF gearboxes

"In the Chinese auto market, more and more heavy commercial vehicles are equipped with automatic transmission systems, which has become a trend of future development. China is the fastest growing auto market in the world, including commercial vehicle business. In the fiercely competitive Chinese market, ZF will strive to stand out with advanced technology. We will produce our top products in China to win the favor of Chinese vehicle manufacturers." said Wolf-Henning Scheider, CEO of ZF. "I am very excited to become a joint venture partner with Foton! The cooperation between the two parties can be traced back to 2008. ZF has been providing innovative products for Foton. ZF has been constantly seeking opportunities to further deepen cooperation with Foton in transmission system technology. Long-term efforts have made the completion of this factory today a part of the joint venture."

"This cooperation is a win-win cooperation, which further proves BAIC Foton's strategic innovation ability in leading the development trend of China's commercial vehicle industry, and ZF Group's position as an important professional manufacturer of transmission products in the world today. The two parties will absorb and digest ZF's technology and expertise in transmission systems, follow ZF's production and manufacturing standards and processes, build a modular and standardized production platform, and jointly create advanced, intelligent and efficient transmission products for the global high-end market, leading the market and industrial upgrading of China's commercial vehicle industry." said Xu Heyi, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of BAIC Group. 

TraXon has a Chinese name

With the commissioning of the new plant, ZF Foton Automatic Transmission (Jiaxing) Co., Ltd. officially began operations in April 2019. The latest generation of ZF AMT transmission, TraXon, which will be mass-produced and sold in the plant, also has its own Chinese name: Chuansheng.

It means: Transmitting the world, success lies in technology, which means that the product will inherit ZF's high-quality characteristics, take root and grow in the Chinese market, and bring the value experience of international products to Chinese users.

Localized ZF "Chuansheng" 12-speed heavy-duty AMT mechanical automatic transmission

It is understood that TraXon is ZF's fourth-generation heavy-duty AMT automatic transmission and the latest generation of automatic heavy-duty transmission. It was first launched in 2016 and is currently one of the most mainstream heavy-duty AMT transmissions in the European commercial vehicle market. As a new automatic transmission system for heavy-duty trucks, TraXon has a newly designed transmission body and a modular concept. It uses the world's latest materials, processes and computer technologies to meet the needs of the commercial vehicle market and provide it with a multi-functional solution covering a variety of applications. This innovative transmission also integrates many features: high transmission efficiency, reaching 99.7%; greater torque, but no decrease in power; wider gear range, but reduced noise; better reliability, B10 life of more than 1.6 million kilometers.

In terms of application, it can be matched not only with dry clutch, but also with hybrid module, dual clutch module and transmission clutch. In addition, it can also be used with engine-driven power take-off. ZF has developed a revolutionary PreVision GPS shift strategy for the new transmission, which is based on GPS connection and navigation data interface to achieve predictive driving and thus save energy.

Foton Daimler Auman EST super truck equipped with domestically produced ZF gearbox

In the Chinese market, TraXon has become an automatic transmission product with a relatively high market share in the domestic AMT heavy-duty truck market. At the Shanghai Auto Show, 4 out of 8 heavy-duty trucks on display were equipped with TraXon AMT transmissions, accounting for half of the total.

It can be seen that the localization of TraXon will bring tremendous changes to the Chinese commercial vehicle market and will quickly lead the Chinese commercial vehicle market towards automatic transmissions.

ZF 6-speed manual transmission for light and medium trucks/passenger vehicles produced in the joint venture