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 new family of six-speed automatic transmissions. The new investment follows the more than $450 million invested in the six-speed development and in the Ypsilanti plant.GM is launching the six-speeds in nearly 40 GM models around the world in 2006 and 2007. By 2010, the company plans a total of 10 new variants of the six-speed design, with annual production reaching three million units.
The first six-speed model, the Hydra-Matic 6L80 (shown at right), debuted in on GM's 2006 performance models and full-size SUVs, and the investment announcement coincides with the launch of its second six-speed variant, the 6L50, which will debut in 2007 Cadillac STS rear- and all-wheel drive sedans, and in the SRX V8 crossover.
Compared to a four-speed automatic, the new six-speeds provide both better performance (through a lower first gear) and better highway fuel economy (via two overdrive gears).
The 6L50 also features "Driver Shift Control," which allows the driver to shift the transmission like a clutchless manual 'box. Another nifty feature is transmission calibration to override automatic gear selection during closed-throttle and high lateral acceleration maneuvers (think aggressive corner entry), rapidly downshifting with nearly synchronous engine speed for quick power-up when the driver comes back on the throttle.
[Source: GM]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
mr 4:29PM (5/30/2006)
It's a myth that a 6 speed automatic yields higher performance than a 4 speed. An A4 Corvette is actually a more responsive car than an A6. The A6 will often require 2 downshifts to hit the meat of the powerband where the A4 will require 1.
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Viktor 4:35PM (5/30/2006)
Why invest all this money in a dying transmission type? CVT and DSG is without doubt the succeeder to conventional automatic transmissions.
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Ed 4:38PM (5/30/2006)
Why are they trying to make a 6-speed when they couldn't get the 4-speed right in 30 years of trying?
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Vinny 4:44PM (5/30/2006)
Ed:
Because instead of perfecting what is out there they hope you will be blinded by the features they add.
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MikeInNC 4:46PM (5/30/2006)
Sorry, could you guys be more negative? Maybe there's more to the story than you think. Could it be that GM knows a little more than us blog experts about their own business? I've never been a big GM fan either but good grief.
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whofan 4:53PM (5/30/2006)
GM is building a six speed because the import guys say they can`t.
Old dated OHV will be next. I hope they keep OHV. 4 speed 6 speed OHC, OHV 6-1 half dozen another who cares, except for the bashers.
I agree with #1.
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Carlos 5:05PM (5/30/2006)
From a marketing perspective, GM absolutely needs 6-speed automatics.
The described features sound very good too, especially the one about holding gears during lateral acceleration. I don't see any downside to this story at all... DSG's expensive and CVT still hasn't won many people over (including myself).
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American and Proud 5:08PM (5/30/2006)
Ed,
GM makes the best most trouble free transmissions on the road today. Get a life dumbell.
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jack johnson 5:16PM (5/30/2006)
To poster#5, just because somebody speaks their mind, doesn't mean its bashing, "Freedom Of Speech", also to the "bashers", dont blame GM, blame Rick Wagoner/Board and the rest of the hoodlums executives, that run GM!! I love capitalism!!
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Gunnar Heinrich 5:17PM (5/30/2006)
General Motors has been selling some of the best transmissions in the world for decades. Rolls-Royce used them through the 90s.
http://www.automobilesdeluxe.blogspot.com
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Jason 5:22PM (5/30/2006)
The only GM auto transmission I ever owned was so amazing that it blew up with only 78k on it and cost me three grand.
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Howard Kerr 5:28PM (5/30/2006)
Having driven about an equal number of auto equipped and manual equipped cars and trucks in my lifetime, I can say that the number of gears isn't as important as the accessibility of those gears.
I've driven big-block Chevys with Powerglide and small 4 cylinder Hondas with 4 speed autos and the ability to get the right gear, right NOW, for max torque multiplication, is a big plus with the GM automatics.
However, if one or more of the gears in the new 6 speed is an overdrive, that should help fuel economy, too.
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tny 5:30PM (5/30/2006)
Out of topic and stupid question maybe: why does modem automatic transmission do away with the Overdrive on/off button? For small engines, it's better than pushing the gas or flipping the manumatic shifter to downshift. Quicker and easier from my experience.
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Kurt B 5:31PM (5/30/2006)
Sheesh..Ward's auto discussed this last October.
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:7bHG1RV9XTkJ:subscribers.wardsauto.com/ar/auto_gm_launches_first_2/+GM+strasbourg+transmission&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3
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Mike 5:41PM (5/30/2006)
GM has some of the best automatic transmissions out there. A few problem torque converters, but otherwise they do a great job.
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Proud Japanese 6:05PM (5/30/2006)
Why don't Americans just use a manual. Damn Americans can't even handle a gearbox.
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Howard Kerr 6:08PM (5/30/2006)
Re tny,
my parents have a '02 Taurus that is column shifted, it still has the OD on/off button.
my '92 Acura Integra with the 4 speed auto has a button marked S2 and S3...I don't have a manual for this car so I'm assuming this is for sportier shift points and/or starting in a gear other than 1st. No OD button, but I'm not sure I would want one.
With more and more cars going for "autoshift" type transmissions, I'm guessing no one wants/needs the OD on/off. HOWEVER, I noticed when driving my parent's car in the mountains that if I didn't switch OD OFF, it REALLY gives the cruise control fits.
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Carlos 6:21PM (5/30/2006)
Howard, those S (or D) 1, 2, 3 notches on an automatic shifter lock out gears higher than the number selected. They may let an engine rev higher before shifting to a gear number less than or equal to the number selected.
So on a 4spd, shifting to D3 is just like pushing an overdrive button (it won't let the car go to 4th gear). Everyone out there should lock out higher gears when going downhill instead of riding the brakes, or in certain circumstances going uphill (cruise control, gear hunting).
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Ed 6:31PM (5/30/2006)
Hey, look! It's "American and Proud", autoblog's official cheerleader for the big two!
Enjoy your Cobalt, which I'm sure has dozens of little yellow ribbons and "git-r-done" stickers on its plastic bumper.
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Michael Karesh 6:56PM (5/30/2006)
Drive the Grand Prix GTP and you'll quickly see why two more ratios is a good idea. The Tapshift works great in that car, but the limited gear selection makes it of very limited usefulness.
It might even be able to downshift multiple gears at once. The Jaguar XK I drove last week dropped from 6th to 3rd instantly.
In this case, a 6-speed has a huge advantage in generally having the proper ratio available. With a four-speed you often get more revs than you really need when the transmission downshifts.
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