GKN Driveline’s breakthrough countertrack™ technology saves fuel

“The breakthrough countertrack™ technology has set the new benchmark standard for driveshaft technology,” said Rob Rickell, global engineering director for GKN Driveline.

GKN Driveline’s new countertrack™ technology improves driveline efficiency – which is key to improving fuel economy.

The right ideas at the right time

The breakthrough countertrack™ technology results in finely tuned driveshafts for each vehicle platform and powertrain combination, setting a new industrial benchmark for weight, size and especially component efficiency.

Rob Rickell commented, “GKN Driveline has found that converting most of today’s front wheel drive (FWD) traditional driveshafts to this new technology will result in a noticeable improvement in fuel economy and CO2 emission."

Independent engineering analysis has proved that GKN’s countertrack™ technology improves fuel economy by an average of 0.2 mpg on a typical FWD mid-size vehicle, this results in a CO2 emission reduction of 1g/km. For special vehicle segments such as SUV’s, case studies have shown that countertrack™ technology can lead to CO2 emission reductions of 3g/km and more. With the current discussions on mpg legislation and CO2 penalty taxes, countertrack™ technology offers a significant value to the automotive market.

Besides the highlighted impact on vehicle efficiency and fuel economy, significant weight saving can be achieved by applying GKN's latest technology like countertrack™.

A weight reduction of up to 29% is possible, which translates to a 9lb (4.0kg) saving for a typical FWD mid size car in production today.

With the pressure of rising fuel prices, once again GKN Driveline’s new technologies are proving to be the right ideas at the right time.

Notes to Editors

About countertrack™

GKN Driveline’s patented and trade marked countertrack™ technology, is the first major breakthrough in constant velocity joint (CVJ) driveshaft technology for the auto industry in the last 70 years. The design breakthrough for the countertrack™ technology is to use sets of opposed ball tracks with a unique track shape profile.

Today’s CVJ driveshafts are based on designs developed by Alfred Rzeppa in the mid 1930’s. Most vehicles today have (two) CVJ driveshafts per vehicle and some SUVs have up to seven. Although modified and improved, the basic design for these components has remained unchanged for 70 years.

GKN Driveline’s countertrack™ technology is expected to become the industry’s product of choice for sideshafts.

The first production vehicles with countertrack™ technology will appear in the market during 2009. Overall, 38 applications are now in the customer vehicle validation phase and three million countertrack™ CVJ’s are expected to be manufactured in 2010.

countertrack™ technology has changed the ‘rules of the game’ and should enable GKN Driveline to extend its leadership position in vehicle drivelines.

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