be swappable with the company's manual transmissions. The 1960s sees ZF supplying transmissions to major German automakers (including DKW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and BMW) as well as Peugeot and Alfa Romeo. 1977: Start of volume production for automatic transmissions for commercial vehicles. Worldwide subsidiaries and factories were opened in the 1970s, and the company moved into India and South Korea. 1980s: ZF started operating in Asia in the mid 80s 1984: Majority shareholding gained in Lemförder Metallwaren AG, today ZF Lemförder GmbH. 1986: Start of USA transmission production in Gainesville, Georgia, for pickup trucks. ZF became a major supplier to Ford in the 1980s. 1991: The 5HP18 was the first 5-speed automatic transmission for passenger cars. Introduced in 1991 on the BMW E36 320i/325i and E34 5 Series 1994: Development of an automatic transmission system for heavy commercial vehicles. The company expanded into China in the 1990s. 1999: World premiere for the first automatic 6-speed transmission. Series production begins in 2001, with the BMW 7 Series as the first client. Today, ZF produces around one million six-speed automatic transmissions annually. 2001: Acquisition of Mannesmann Sachs AG. Today: ZF Sachs AG. 2001: Active Roll Stabilization(ARS) premiere on BMW 7 Series (E65) 2002: Presentation of the world's first 4-point link – a newly developed chassis module for trucks and buses. 2003: First deliveries of the Active Steering systems for passenger cars. 2004: Ford starts volume production of the continuously variable transmissions (CVT) for passenger cars developed by ZF. 2005: The 10-millionth airbag casing, the 5-millionth passenger car axle system and the 2-millionth 'Servolectric' electric power steering system are delivered. 2006: ZF produces the 10-millionth passenger car automatic transmission. 2007: One of the world's first 8-speed automatic transmissions, the 8HP boasted to achieve an 11% improvement in fuel economy in comparison with standard 6-speed automatic transmissions. Production began in 2009. 2008: Acquisition of keyboard manufacturers Cherry Corporation. Incorporated into the ZF Electronics GmbH Corporate Division. 2011: World premiere for the first automatic 9-speed transmission. Land Rover demonstrated the world's first nine-speed automatic transmission for a passenger car at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. The ZF 9HP transmission is designed for transverse applications, and is one of the most efficient and technically advanced transmissions ever used in a production vehicle. Land Rover is the lead partner with ZF on this project. 2013: Jeep announces that ZF has developed a nine-speed automatic transmission for use in