#Transmission

Porsche brought its 2014 911 GT3 to the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, showcasing its fastest-ever naturally-aspirated car. But just as you would likely expect, there’s an even hotter version coming. 

Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne expects there will be as many as 200,000 nine-speed transmissions available this year and bound for new Chrysler vehicles.

Ushering a new level of efficient technology into the automotive industry, Chrysler will begin selling cars with eight- and nine-speed transmissions by the first half of 2013.

Most automotive enthusiasts can remember when an automaker first introduced the idea of a six-speed automatic transmission to the market, and nowadays modern vehicles sport as many as eight gears, with Hyundai even rumored to be working on a 10-speed. 

Still a decent distance away from U.S. production, the 11th generation Toyota Corolla is giving us a few hints of what we could expect through the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) version.

We know that Honda is heavily investing into continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) but what about a standard automatic transmission offering?

It’s anything but a secret: more gears mean better gas mileage. Mercedes-Benz packs a seven-speed automatic into many of its cars, Lexus uses an eight-speed transmission in its LS sedans, but these amply geared boxes are generally the things of luxury cars— until now.

Back in August, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation regarding the Getrag MT82 6-speed manual transmissions found in 2011+ Ford Mustangs.

As we first reported back in December, Hyundai is developing a 10-speed automatic transmission. Now details of when that new unit will be available have come to light, with the project expected to be completed by 2014. Hyundai president Park Seong Hyon says the new gearbox will likely be installed in the Genesis sedan and Equus.

The five-speed transmission, “545RFE,” features an interesting split dual cog 2nd gear. Engagement on one cog or the other depend on whether the transmission is performing an upshift or a downshift. The 1.67 and 1.50 ratio cog are used for the upshift and downshift respectively. An electric range select is also featured in the 545RFE, allowing driver to manually limit the highest available gear, a handy device during hilly terrain or tow situations.

Owners of Nissan’s 2005-2010 Pathfinders, Frontiers and Xteras are experiencing failures to their automatic transmissions because radiator coolant is leaking into the system. The radiator cooler tanks are rupturing, which forces the coolant into the transmission through the transmission cooler lines. Nissan has offered an extended warranty for the radiators, but the coverage only applies to vehicles with fewer than 80,000 miles.

With fuel economy being one of the for most issues for the entire auto industry, GM may plan to add eight-speed automatic transmissions and turbocharged engines to its next generation of full-size trucks.