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Ford : Joint Venture with ZF
ZF will own 51 percent of the new company and Ford the remaining 49 percent. The Batavia Plant will be owned by the joint venture, but current employees will remain Ford employees working for the joint venture.
The new company is expected to begin operation in early 1999 and will produce the highly sophisticated Continuously Variable Automatic Transmissions (CVTs) for Ford and other automotive manufacturers worldwide. The new CVT will offer best-in-class functionality while increasing fuel economy by about 10 to 15 percent and improving driveability. The Batavia plant will continue to make the present front-wheel-drive transaxle for the remainder of its cycle. "We view this as an opportunity for growth with a company that is a technical leader in transmissions," said Nasser. "Ford will lend a skilled workforce, high volume manufacturing expertise, and a first-rate plant in Batavia. Leveraging our resources was a key element to making this joint venture an outstanding business proposition for Ford." "ZF will provide its CVT technology and technical expertise in automatic transmission design and development," said Dr. Bleyer. "ZF views this partnership as an opportunity for growth and a chance to further demonstrate the technical expertise that has long been a ZF trademark." In addition to its technical expertise, ZF also is contributing undisclosed financial resources to the venture. The new company will be responsible for the development, production and distribution of an estimated one million automatic CVT transmissions for cars and light trucks worldwide. The CVT features two variable diameter pulleys connected by a metal belt, which allows for the continuously variable ratio feature that allows the driver to perceive "no shift." The Batavia plant, which has 1,236 hourly and 212 salaried employees, presently produces front-wheel-drive transaxles for Ford Contour and Mondeo, Mercury Cougar and Mystique and the Mazda 626. The plant opened in 1980. ZF is headquartered in Friedrichshafen, Germany and is a producer of manual and automatic transmissions, chassis components, steering systems and off-road driveline and axle systems. It employs about 35,000 people. ZF has nine production facilities in North America, three of which have been established since 1995.
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