One of the factors of ZF Friedrichshafen AG's growth was its acquisition strategy. While the company sold the automotive steering segment to its peer rival Robert Bosch GmbH, ZF Friedrichshafen succeeded with a takeover bid to TRW shareholders in December 2014. The merger of TRW Automotive and ZF Friedrichshafen was completed in 2015 and may be dubbed one of the largest supplier acquisitions in history.
Competitors
The mega suppliers Denso Corporation and Magna International are ZF Friedrichshafen AG's main competitors, together with the Germany-based Robert Bosch GmbH and Continental AG. With the establishment of its Zukunft Ventures GmbH, ZF Friedrichshafen is expected to increase its activity in autonomous driving.History
ZF Friedrichshafen AG was founded in 1915 in Germany to initially produce gears for airships, such as Zeppelins. A few years later, the company switched to making gears for cars and has since become one of the pioneering companies in the automotive industry, spending almost 2.8 billion euros on research and development in 2022.Throughout the 1960s, ZF Friedrichshafen AG started supplying transmissions to leading German automotive companies, such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche. The rising demand for ZF Friedrichshafen AG's products led to the company expanding to other countries. The company operates in over 20 countries around the globe, including the United States, India, South Korea, and China.
