At the end of January, the Bosch Group completed its acquisition of ZF Friedrichshafen AG’s 50% share in the joint venture ZF Lenksysteme GmbH (ZFL). This means that Bosch now owns all shares in the former 50:50 joint venture, which will be incorporated into the Bosch Group as a new division with the name Robert Bosch Automotive Steering GmbH.

ZFL, which has more than 13,000 employees in eight countries, develops, manufactures and sells steering systems for passenger cars and commercial vehicles world-wide. In 2013, it achieved sales of around 4.1 billion euros and is active in the world’s most important automotive markets.

The company is a leading manufacturer of electric steering systems, with which it currently generates around 60% of its sales. Alongside its potential to save up to 0.8 litres of fuel per 100km, electric steering is the base technology required by a number of ‘assistance systems’ in cars — including automated driving.

Electric steering is also increasingly being used in commercial vehicles. At the IAA Commercial Vehicles 2014 show in Hannover, ZFL presented the new commercial-vehicle steering system Servotwin.

This hydraulic-electric steering for commercial vehicles also paves the way for the introduction of driver assistance systems. In total, around 1,400 of the new division’s staff — more than one in 10 — work in development. In 2013, the company spent about 238 million euros on research and development.