Transmission Wars
Manufacturers are investing billions to get an edge on economy and performance through development of new transmissions. While the Wall Street Journal article I linked to focuses on the increasing number of gears in automatic transmissions, it's important to remember the other types of transmissions that are being developed. The alphabet soup of CVT, SMG, and DSG make up some of the less conventional transmission types. While all this technology is cool, rowing your own gears still carries a certain romantic allure. Automatic/automated transmissions have advanced so much that the idea of doing it yourself is starting to seem nostalgic. With the future promising eight speed automatics, we wonder if the manual transmissions found in consumer vehicles will see any further forward gear increases.
- Bad brakes lights lead VW to recall 790,000 vehicles Volkswagen has discovered that a previous recall of 362,000 vehicles (1999-2002 Jettas and 1998-2002 New Beetles) for a defective brake light switch actually affects a much larger range of vehicles. T ...
- GM invests another $170 million in shift to six-speed automatics Announcing Tuesday a $170 million investment in GM Powertrain's Ypsilanti Transmission Operations and its satellite vendors and support infrastructure, General Motors made a strong commitment to its n ...
- Opel prices new Antara crossover at $34,000 General Motors' Opel division disclosed Wednesday that its new Antara crossover will start at nearly $34,000 when it launches in the German market later this year after a debut at the Paris auto show ...
- Maserati caves, plans to add traditional automatic transmission to Quattroporte Maserati will add a fully automatic transmission into its Quattroporte lineup after complaints from potential and current customers about the semiautomatic gearbox. The Ferrari-developed manumatic pre ...
- Toyota passes 1.55 million mark for North American production The big T announced yesterday that its total production output in North American during 2005 was 1,558,828 vehicles and 1,295,227 engines. Both represent record production levels for the company, whic ...
- Mazda Japan Car of the Year commemorative edition MX5 launches in Japan The Mazda Roadster (MX5) "Japan Car of the Year Commemorative Edition" celebrates the popular roadster's receipt of the award for 2005-2006.The special edition model features unique interior ...
- Toyota's 10 millionth engine rolls off the assembly line Toyota of America celebrated the building of its 10 millionth engine in North America yesterday, marking the company's 15 years producing on the continent. The company also highlighted its curren ...
- Chrysler recalling about 583,000 vehicles Chrysler announced two major recalls Friday. The first involves about 300,000 vehicles with a transmission defect that can prevent the driver from putting the shifter in "Park." The recall affects som ...
- Audi TT Spy Shots We were speculating when Audi would refresh the TT. With the new Golf platform, the current TT was starting to look a little long in the tooth. The prototype is hidden, but you can see the way the rea ...
- Ask Autoblog: sports car style JDAWG from Cali has $40K-$50K to blow on a new or slightly used (I do believe they call it "pre-enjoyed") sports car. He wants options, so we're going to break it down for him in the grandest Autoblog ...
0 Responses to » Transmission Wars
Leave your response!