| New 8 Speed transmission? |
Subject: New 8 Speed transmission? by red_johnny on 2007/10/23 23:49:18 Earlier this month information from leaked UAW documents revealed the Corvette may get a new dual-clutch transmission and now reports are claiming GM is also working on new seven and eight-speed gearboxes. The key now for GM is determining whether the improvements in fuel economy and performance would justify the cost of engineering them into a vehicle. The executive director of GM Powertrain’s Transmission Engineering, Jim Lanzon, told The Car Connection that every possibility is being looked at including a similar gearbox design to the one used on the high-performance BMW M5. GM has the technology but as Lanzon explained, “there is more to making a seven or eight-speed transmission than adding more modules. You’ve got to be concerned about the parasitic losses that neutralize the fuel-economy gains.†New computer design tools have sped up the development of GM’s recent gearbox technology. Where once it would take close to a decade to develop three or four new transmissions, with the aid of computerized tools GM has launched nine new six-speed transmission models in just four years. Dual-clutch technology is slowly filtering to other companies after the Volkswagen Group first pioneered the gearboxes in their mass market vehicles. Mitsubishi’s Evolution X and the Nissan GT-R both get dual-clutch gearboxes and Ford is bringing it to market very soon. [url]http://www.motorauthority.com/cars/general-motors/gm-considers-eight-speed-gearbox/[/url] |
