PRESS RELEASE
Corporate
Twenty Million Drive Shafts from MTU Friedrichshafen - mtu´s drive-shaft product center - the world´s largest manufacturer of passenger-car drive shafts
Posted on August 01, 2002
The drive-shaft product center of MTU Friedrichshafen has every reason to celebrate: On July 19, 2002, the twenty-millionth vehicle drive shaft left the assembly line.
Friedrichshafen - The drive-shaft product center of MTU Friedrichshafen has every reason to celebrate: On July 19, 2002, the twenty-millionth vehicle drive shaft left the assembly line. Since 1970, mtu has produced drive shafts for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles with rear and all-wheel drive. "Today, we are market leader for passenger-car drive shafts worldwide, and with repect to drive shafts for light commercial vehicles, already No. 2 in Europe", Senior Vice President Werner Speckner emphasized on Friday on the occasion of a celebration ceremony together with the 370 employees of the product center. He congratulated the staff members, supervisors and the management team on this outstanding achievement and thanked them for their strong committment and excellent team spirit.
The President of the mtu Board of Management, Dr. Rolf A. Hanssen, pointed out that the drive-shaft business of MTU Friedrichshafen accounts for eleven percent of its overall sales - with a rising tendency: "Drive shafts are a substantial part of the mtu product portfolio. Sales increases result from the DaimlerChrysler car business as well as, increasingly, from business with third parties."
Every day, approx. 5,000 drive shafts leave the plant in Friedrichshafen by truck. With a market share of 26 percent for passenger-car drive shafts, about one quarter of all manufactured cars worldwide which are equipped with rear or all-wheel drive, use drive shafts from Friedrichshafen. Vehicular drive shafts are an essential part of the power train: in vehicles with rear drive, they transmit the driving power of the engine from the transmission to the rear axle; in all-wheel drives, from the transmission to the front and rear axles.
Drive shafts from Friedrichshafen are renowned for their high quality, low weight and very smooth running even at high speeds. Therefore, they are used primarily in the luxury and premium classes. The largest customer is DaimlerChrysler with its Mercedes-Benz brand, of which all passenger cars with rear and all-wheel drive have mtu drive shafts installed: from the C and E Classes to the S Class and the new Maybach. For several years now, the primary sales performer in the commercial-vehicle range has been drive shafts for the Mercedes-Benz "Sprinter", worldwide a bestseller among light transporters.
MTU Friedrichshafen together with the off-highway business of Detroit Diesel Corporation form DaimlerChrysler Powersystems Off-Highway. The Off-Highway product unit provides a complete sales program for diesel engines in the power range from 30 to 13,000HP (20 to 9,000kW). Applications range from industrial, mining, agriculture, energy technology to marine, rail and defense. Via its subsidiary L'Orange, fuel-injection systems for diesel, heavy-oil and gas engines also belong to the product range, as well as drive shafts for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles via the mtu drive- shaft product center.
The President of the mtu Board of Management, Dr. Rolf A. Hanssen, pointed out that the drive-shaft business of MTU Friedrichshafen accounts for eleven percent of its overall sales - with a rising tendency: "Drive shafts are a substantial part of the mtu product portfolio. Sales increases result from the DaimlerChrysler car business as well as, increasingly, from business with third parties."
Every day, approx. 5,000 drive shafts leave the plant in Friedrichshafen by truck. With a market share of 26 percent for passenger-car drive shafts, about one quarter of all manufactured cars worldwide which are equipped with rear or all-wheel drive, use drive shafts from Friedrichshafen. Vehicular drive shafts are an essential part of the power train: in vehicles with rear drive, they transmit the driving power of the engine from the transmission to the rear axle; in all-wheel drives, from the transmission to the front and rear axles.
Drive shafts from Friedrichshafen are renowned for their high quality, low weight and very smooth running even at high speeds. Therefore, they are used primarily in the luxury and premium classes. The largest customer is DaimlerChrysler with its Mercedes-Benz brand, of which all passenger cars with rear and all-wheel drive have mtu drive shafts installed: from the C and E Classes to the S Class and the new Maybach. For several years now, the primary sales performer in the commercial-vehicle range has been drive shafts for the Mercedes-Benz "Sprinter", worldwide a bestseller among light transporters.
MTU Friedrichshafen together with the off-highway business of Detroit Diesel Corporation form DaimlerChrysler Powersystems Off-Highway. The Off-Highway product unit provides a complete sales program for diesel engines in the power range from 30 to 13,000HP (20 to 9,000kW). Applications range from industrial, mining, agriculture, energy technology to marine, rail and defense. Via its subsidiary L'Orange, fuel-injection systems for diesel, heavy-oil and gas engines also belong to the product range, as well as drive shafts for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles via the mtu drive- shaft product center.