Here is a question for you to consider: how many speeds is too many with a transmission? When will manufacturers reach the limit of effectiveness and quit adding speeds to their automatic transmissions?
So what is the purpose of all these speeds? More gears mean more gear spread to work with, and that means either that more economical engines can power larger vehicles or that you can get better fuel economy from the average engine.
As we have moved forward in technology, from the old three-speeds to four then five and now six and seven, we have seen the obvious advantages of more gears. Smoother shifts, better fuel economy and improved acceleration for sure, but a more intrinsic advantage is that the average car buyer thinks they are getting greater technology if a car has more gears and that simply is not the case. The technology has advanced to be sure, but it is quite possible to find an old four-speed automatic transmission that works every bit as good as a modern seven-speed.
So how many is too many? Ford has committed to a new eight-speed automatic transmission and we will be seeing those on a regular basis starting in 2014. Mercedes-Benz is working on a nine-speed automatic which we will see in the next couple of years. Industry leaders seem to believe we will top out at nine except for some experimental vehicles in the future. The fact is that technology has advanced to the point where adjustments can be made to vehicles with six gears and make them as efficient as a transmission with nine gears. It simply is not profitable or logical to add more gears.
So the future is aimed towards more CVT’s, more electric transmissions and more technology to improve existing automatic transmissions. There seems to be no one trend that will rule the transmission industry in the years to come. Even the manual transmission, written off as dead two years ago, is making a comeback and adding gears to attract more car buyers.
Which is more efficient? Regarding fuel efficiency, the manual transmission is still the industry leader. Sorry to those who believe the CVT is the second-coming of miracles, but nothing has surpassed the manual transmission for quality efficiency. Too bad the American public doesn’t like all that inconvenience of shifting manually.
Meanwhile, you can bet the pros at PDQ transmission parts will continue to learn and adjust along with technology. Transmissions are our business and we like being the industry leaders in our field.
