Ford, GM Team Up to Develop Nine and 10 Speed Transmissions
Despite beliefs by transmission manufacturer ZF’s president that the race to add transmission gears is close to the limit, General Motors and Ford are teaming up to jointly develop new nine-speed and 10-speed transmissions.
The partnership between two of America’s largest automakers aims to build transmissions to use across their lineups in hopes of maximizing fuel economy. GM is in charge of developing a nine-speed transmission for front-wheel drive applications while Ford is focusing on a 10-speed transmission for rear-wheel drive vehicles such as pickup trucks, SUVs, and performance cars.
Development began earlier this year, but is still currently in the design phase. The automakers are hoping to begin production before 2015 however. Details on the agreement were not announced, but a GM spokesman did confirm that the automakers are in discussions and have signed a memorandum of understanding on the project. A definitive agreement is expected to be announced soon.
It’ll be even more interesting to see if this relationship blossoms to something greater. A manufacturing alliance wouldn’t be entirely out of the question, and could help boost both automakers’ production and development.
[Source: Automotive News]
Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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There's only so many gears that a normal human (or computer for that matter) can handle. The Lexus IS-F had eight gears or something and reviews didn't take too kindly to that. Also transmissions with a crazy number of gears are in the process of making the manual obsolete, and so that's why I'm really not a fan of these newer transmissions. And you never hear people asking for more than 6 gears, so do we really want this stuff anyway?
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