GM and Ford Team Up on New Nine- and 10-Speed Transmissions
The transmissions will be used in future cars, trucks and SUVs at both companies. The nine-speed automatic will be a front-wheel-drive transmission, while the 10-speed is destined for rear-drive applications. One company will develop the nine-speed and the other will develop the 10-speed, but neither company is saying which is taking on which.
If this seems like more gears than you’ll ever need, it’s not. Automakers are bringing multispeed transmissions to market in order to make big fuel economy gains without having to sacrifice power. Continuously variable transmissions have proven to be largely unpopular, with consumers missing that “gear change” that accompanies acceleration in most cars, leading to the development of gearboxes like these. The lead American automaker for this technology is actually Chrysler, which has just started equipping its rear-wheel-drive cars and trucks with eight-speed automatic transmissions, and is readying its own nine-speed front-drive automatic for use in the next year or two.
This is not the first time Ford and GM have collaborated on such equipment; they’ve been developing two common six-speed transmissions since 2002. There is no word on when the new nine- and 10-speed gearboxes will be out, but Ford has said that development work is already well underway.
