ZF Friedrichshafen AG is a German technology manufacturing company that supplies systems, in particular transmissions for buses, passenger cars and SUVs, light commercial vehicles such as vans and light trucks, as well as all types of heavy and special vehicles.
Basically there are two types of motor vehicle transmissions:
- Manual – the driver has to perform each gear change using a manually operated clutch
- Automatic – once placed in drive (or any other 'automatic' selector position), it automatically selects the gear ratio dependent on engine speed and load
Basically there are two types of engine installation:
- In the longitudinal direction, the gearbox is usually designed separately from the final drive (including the differential). The transaxle configuration combines the gearbox and final drive in one housing and is only built in individual cases
- In the transverse direction, the gearbox and final drive are very often combined in one housing due to the much more restricted space available
Every type of transmission occurs in every type of installation.
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