Factors Affecting the Design of Transmissions for Heavy-Duty Trucks in Europe

This paper traces the evolution of heavy-duty truck transmissions in Europe, comments on the factors that have influenced and will influence the designs, compares some of the types in current use, and gives the author's views on possible lines of further development in the next decade. The ultimate predominance of any particular truck transmission will, of course, be the result of compromise between legislative, economic, and geographic factors. All these influences vary considerably in their effects on European truck manufacture as compared to that in the United States. The discussion of these differences points up areas of interest to manufacturers of transmissions who engage in export of their products.