The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid and Ford with partner with General Motors on new transmission technology. Has anyone dusted off that old Mayan calendar lately? We're not sure that a Ford/GM tech share speaks to the end of days, but we're not ruling it out, either.
It's only been a year since General Motors launched its 6T40 six-speed automatic transmission for mid-size and compact cars. When it was introduced, it brought with it a five percent bump in fuel efficiency. The engineers at GM Powertrain are now developing a second-generation variant of the 6T40 for introduction in 2011 that will bump fuel efficiency by another five percent.
It's only been a year since General Motors launched its 6T40 six-speed automatic transmission for mid-size and compact cars. When it was introduced, this new transmission brought with it a five percent bump in fuel efficiency. The engineers at GM Powertrain are now developing a second generation variant of the 6T40 for introduction in 2011 that will bump fuel efficiency by yet another five percent.
Chrysler has managed to stay out of the doom and gloom news for a few weeks now, which goes to show that going private can have its benefits. But things couldn't stay quiet forever, and as if the company needed something else to deal with, it's now in row with German transmission supplier Getrag over a potentially failed joint venture.
Like every other automaker that intends to do business in the U.S., Hyundai is planning for the future and the proposed fuel economy standards that are expected to hit in 2015. Currently, Hyundai's passenger cars average 32.4 mpg, while its trucks average 25.5 mpg. When the new regulations are in place, those numbers will have to increase to 37.5 mpg and 31.0 mpg, respectively. Hyundai's approach involves two separate strategies that will work together to achieve those figures.
The new CEO and President of Tesla Motors Ze'ev Drori has been pretty quiet since he came on board recently, at least publicly. He did participate with Elon Musk in the recent conference call with customers and he has undoubtedly made his presence felt inside the walls at San Carlos. Now, anyone can hear what Drori has to say: he's just posted his first entry on the Tesla blog picking up where Elon Musk left off last week. Drori gives some further details on the situation with the Roadster's tra
Unlike many carmakers, Mercedes-Benz has traditionally built its own transmissions . It has even supplied them to others, such the slushbox that they sold to Porsche for the 928. Economic realities could soon cause that to change, as the team from soon-to-be Daimler AG investigates outsourcing transmission production to other companies. Mercedes wants transmissions that will help the fuel efficiency of their next generation A, B, and C-Classes, such as eight-speed dual clutch units. Rather than
German transmission manufacturer ZF Friedrichshafen AG introduced the first six speed automatic transmissions in 2001. Since then seven and even eight speed automatics have turned up in various vehicles like Mercedes and Lexus. Now ZF has developed a new torque converter for their six-speed boxes that can lockup sooner, improving mechanical efficiency of the system. They have also revamped the hydraulics and control software to allow it to shift gears twice as fast. All of this apparently result
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Ford was forced to halt production at seven assembly plants after finding a quality problem with a transmission component, but all seven plants affected by the stoppage should be up and running again today.
The Auto Channel has an extensive article on the Honda Fit, which recently went on sale in the U.S. It delves a little deeper into the five-door subcompact: a summary of its main features; in-depth discussions on the vehicle's exterior, engine and transmissions; an overview of the chassis; a look at the interior with its "Magic Seat"; safety features; and, finally, an overview of all available accessories.
