BMW group front-wheel-drive models will use Aisin transmissions

With more collaborations between BMW and Toyota, we will find more of the Japanese company’s product in the German brand (Aisin is owned by its parent company Toyota).

According to BMW, their future FWD platform sedans’ transmission will be supplied by Aisin (the current BMW RWD cars’ transmission are majorly sourced from ZF).

The new Aisin transmission is improved for the damping capability of the torque converter, which is suitable for turbo engine. The turbo engine’s low end torque results the engine run at low RPM range more time. While this helps to optimize fuel consumption, it also significantly increases the level of torque fluctuations. So this is the reason why the increased damping capability is required for the new Aisin transmission.

Other improvements in the Aisin transmission include an expanded lock-up range of the torque converter, and also a wider ratio spread. The 6 speed version of the transmissions have a spread of up to 6.64; the 8 speed version built on the same architecture widens the spread up to 7.80, which provides ratios 16 percent higher as well as 8 percent lower than the previous generation 6 speed unit.

AisinBMWTransmissionTable

CFD analysis and ATF flow visualization techniques had allowed Aisin engineers to optimize the friction material design to achieve a remarkable 77% reduction in clutch and brake drag torque, contributing to an overall 14% gain of fuel efficiency14 for the 6 speed and 16.5 percent for the 8 speed version.

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