GKN Driveline’s countertrack technology saves fuel

GKN Driveline’s breakthrough countertrack constant velocity joint (CVJ) technology is exciting the interest of vehicle manufacturers in Europe, North America and Asia because of its fuel saving potential.

“The breakthrough countertrack innovative 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.