13:19 21-10-2025

Why so many cars share the same gearbox: ZF 8HP, PDK, Tremec

For decades, automakers told buyers their cars were unique down to the last bolt—especially when it came to the transmission. To the driver, the gearbox was framed as something intimate and defining: in a BMW it had to be quick and sharp, in a Jaguar smooth and dignified, in a supercar firm and lightning-fast.

In reality, things are far more prosaic. Most modern gearboxes aren’t bespoke brand creations but units sourced from the same suppliers. It’s a global, unspoken industry norm that few care to discuss openly.

The clearest example is the ZF 8HP eight-speed automatic. It’s everywhere: from the BMW 5 Series and Alfa Romeo Giulia to the Dodge Charger, Range Rover, Bentley, and even Rolls-Royce. The hardware is the same; the sensations change only through calibration. BMW dials in crisp, sporty shifts, Jaguar opts for velvet-smooth changes, and American brands lean into aggression. Sit behind the wheel and those calibrations do read as distinct personalities—but the heart is identical. ZF became the new global benchmark by building a universal, durable, quick-shifting gearbox that can handle both a 400 Nm diesel and a 900 Nm V12.

The story is similar with dual-clutch units. Getrag supplies Ferrari, Ford, Mercedes, and Alfa Romeo. Porsche’s much-praised PDK shares engineering lineage with Volkswagen’s DSG and with hypercars that use variations of the same principle. Even among supercars, Lamborghini, McLaren, and Aston Martin often rely on Graziano transmissions—different badges, one manufacturer. The manual world follows the same script: Tremec shows up in the Mustang, Camaro, and Viper, and in modified form even in Aston Martin. In practice, many automotive icons swap cogs through the very same gearsets.

The reason is straightforward: developing a proprietary gearbox is the costliest piece of the powertrain puzzle. It demands years of testing, huge budgets, and serious risk—because a transmission failure is a reputational disaster. Buying a proven unit, refined across hundreds of thousands of cars, and tuning it to fit a brand’s character is simply smarter. That’s why companies invest less in hardware and more in software, turning the same gearbox into different on-road personalities.

Here’s the paradox: just as transmissions have become shared, they’re also turning into an endangered species. Electric cars don’t need complex gearboxes, and the era of intricate multi-speed units is slowly fading. Which means ZF’s 8HP, PDK, Tremec, and Graziano may well be the last great gearboxes—the ones that shaped a car’s character and delivered emotion through machinery rather than lines of code.