| – Technology company has increased its year-on-year sales from January to August by 10 percent – ZF’s CEO Dr. Sommer: With the TRW acquisition, we are expanding our portfolio in highly attractive segments – ZF Innovation Truck combines new products and technologies |
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At the 65th IAA Commercial Vehicles, Dr. Stefan Sommer, CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen AG, presented a positive result of the business performance in the last eight months. From January to August, the technology company, active in the fields of driveline and chassis technology, increased its sales figure to €12.09 billion, a plus of 10 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. “Thus, we have again achieved higher growth than the industry average,” said Sommer in Hanover on Tuesday.
For the overall business year 2014, ZF’s CEO is expecting a high single-digit growth in sales to a total of more than €18 billion. “In the first two thirds of the year, we built up great momentum, particularly in China and the US, which we are now carrying into the last four months, where it will help us offset the sluggish development in Brazil and Russia,” said Sommer, explaining the currently weakening growth dynamics.
As in the previous years and following the general trend in the automotive industry, sales revenues have shown particularly strong growth in the US (plus 30 percent to €2.1 billion) and China (plus 26 percent to €2.0 billion) in the last eight months, making a decisive contribution to ZF’s excellent economic position. At the end of August, ZF’s workforce comprised around 74 000 people worldwide, including 42 600 (58 percent) employees in Germany.
Changes in the ZF Group
Referring to the planned merger with the supplier company TRW Automotive, Sommer said that he had received “only positive feedback after announcing this acquisition in the spirit of partnership”. “After all, this is strengthening our future prospects as we are expanding our product portfolio in highly attractive segments,” underlined Sommer. Customers, employees, and shareholders would benefit from this transaction. With total sales of about €30 billion (about $41 billion) and 138 000 employees, the merged company will become one of the global leaders in the automotive supplier industry, more than doubling its sales in China and the US, two of the most significant countries in the world for automotive sales.
The change in the ownership structure of ZF Lenksysteme GmbH, a joint venture of ZF and Robert Bosch GmbH, which was also announced last week, was jointly decided by the parent companies “in order to meet the future requirements of an increasingly dynamic environment,” explained Sommer. The company, based in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, produces steering systems for passenger cars and commercial vehicles at 20 locations worldwide. Once the required antitrust approval is obtained, ZF Lenksysteme will be owned 100 percent by Bosch.
Truck maneuvering via tablet
At the IAA Commercial Vehicles, ZF will be presenting for the first time the ZF Innovation Truck, equipped with innovative assistance functions. Among other features, this truck prototype combines the hybrid version of the TraXon automatic transmission system with the Openmatics telematics solution. In this way, the truck, which is more than 25 meters long incl. semitrailer and trailer, can be remotely maneuvered conveniently using a tablet – and it is emission-free because only the electric motor in the hybrid system is active during the proces
