ZF Friedrichshafen AG won around 60 per cent of the votes cast in the annual readers’ choice awards run by – “lastauto omnibus,” “trans aktuell” and “FERNFAHRER”.
For the 12th consecutive year, the company occupied the top spot on the winners’ podium, this year scooping victories in two categories. ZF held onto the renowned “Best Brand 2016” title in the “Commercial Vehicle Transmission” and “Retarder” competition categories. The awards are a testament to the top quality, superb economy and performance of the technology company’s advanced drive systems, as acknowledged by manufacturers, fleet operators and professional drivers for over a decade.
The ZF-Intarder also managed to comfortably defend its top spot from the past few years in the “Retarder” product group, obtaining 58.6 per cent of the readers’ votes, an increase of 2.1 per cent.
“Widespread readers’ approval and the repeated top rankings make us very proud,” said Andreas Moser, Head of Corporate Market in the Commercial Vehicle Technology Division of ZF Friedrichshafen AG, at the prize-giving ceremony at Stuttgart on June 23. “Furthermore, the readership not only includes manufacturers and fleet operators, but also professional drivers in particular. Their votes confirm that we focused on the right key areas when developing our products. In future, we will continue to make the logistics sector more effective, more convenient and safer with intelligent electromechanical systems.”
ZF’s automatic transmission system TraXon also plays a key role in this respect. The basic transmission can be combined with various starting and shift modules, thus providing an enormous range of functions which can be tailored optimally to customer requirements.
The second prize-winner of the evening, the ZF-Intarder, recently proved its significance in the commercial vehicle segment with production of one million units. The wear-free brake system, integrated into the transmission, provides 90 per cent of all braking without using the service brake, and thereby increases safety, saves material and protects the environment.
The customer base now includes rail and crane manufacturers, in addition to truck and bus manufacturers.