Gearbox production at ZF: Largest single order since 2019. Photo: dpa
Stuttgart, Düsseldorf. The financially troubled supplier ZF has signed a billion-dollar contract with the car manufacturer BMW. The core of the agreement is the delivery and further development of the eight-speed automatic transmission 8HP, as ZF announced on Monday. The contract is worth several billion euros and runs until the late 2030s.
ZF benefits from the demand for vehicles with combustion engines or hybrid drives. The gearbox can be used for both drives.
It is the largest single order for transmissions that Division E has landed since 2019, said a company spokesman. The core division, which develops and produces combustion engines in addition to electric and hybrid drives, is at the center of the restructuring.
New ZF boss clears the air
All transmission plants would benefit from the order, the spokesman continued. ZF builds the transmission in Saarbrücken, the US state of South Carolina and in Shanghai. The contract does not affect the planned job cuts in Germany.
The major order is good news for the group. Because it indicates that the foundation company has reached a permanent agreement with its largest German customer. BMW declined to comment.
In recent years, ZF has received orders worth 30 billion euros for the electric drive train, some at prices that do not cover costs, including a large part from BMW. Negotiations continued for months.
Shortly before Christmas, the new ZF boss Mathias Miedreich cleared the air and exited some projects entirely. “The special charges will lead to an accounting loss of around one and a half billion euros for 2025,” said Miedreich in an interview with Handelsblatt last week. ZF is drawing a line under these projects.
Interview with Mathias Miedreich
The ZF crisis plan: “The money tap has been turned off. Cash will no longer be burned”
The loss orders have nothing directly to do with the current transmission order. But in the automotive industry, problems with old orders are often offset against new orders. Companies usually don’t say exactly how.
Related Topics ZF Follow BMW Follow Germany Follow
ZF is deep in crisis: around eleven billion euros in debt from takeovers and weak orders from car manufacturers are weighing on the business. According to previous information, up to 14,000 jobs will be cut in Germany by the end of 2028. Thousands of jobs have already been lost. The working hours of many employees were also reduced.
The company is one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers with around 161,600 employees at 161 locations in 30 countries. In 2024, the group achieved sales of around 41.4 billion euros. ZF plans to present the figures for 2025 on March 19th.