The automotive supplier ZF Friedrichshafen and car manufacturers BMW have concluded a new billion-dollar order. The core of the agreement is the delivery and further development of the eight-speed automatic transmission (8HP) from ZF. “The contract with a volume of several billion euros runs until the late 2030s,” ZF explained on Monday afternoon. This brings “planning security”.
The agreement also underlines “the strategic importance of our eight-speed automatic transmission as a central technology for the change in drive systems,” explained ZF boss Mathias Miedreich (51), according to the statement. Miedreich has led ZF since October 1st last year, replacing Holger Klein (56) at the helm.
The ailing automotive supplier will now be careful to ensure that the latest megadeal with BMW does not get out of hand in the same way as the last one. In 2019, the then ZF boss Wolf-Henning Scheider (63) celebrated the “largest single order in the company’s history”. At that time, BMW also ordered transmissions on a large scale. However, the deal ultimately developed into a financial debacle for ZF due to initial quality problems, excessive costs and poorly negotiated conditions, as manager magazin exclusively reported. The supplier demanded financial improvements, but BMW initially refused.
The dispute ended up in court and the atmosphere was toxic.
Ultimately, both parties came to an agreement – because BMW also needs ZF. The Munich-based company is considered the most important buyer for the world-famous ZF transmission, which the supplier introduced in 2008 and is now in its fourth generation. Setting up an alternative gearbox supplier is considered complicated in the industry. Now the two companies have apparently come closer together again. However, the parties do not provide any specific details about the structure of the contract.
ZF is deep in crisis: net liabilities from takeovers and weak orders from car manufacturers are putting a strain on 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. A few days ago ZF announcedthat the group also expects a loss for the past year. The reason for this is a one-off burden from several electric car projects that the auto supplier ended prematurely.
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.