Perhaps its a sign of the times, but the world's two largest car firms, Ford and GM, have announced a joint programme they claim will advance the state of transmission technology.
The two companies will work together to develop a high-volume, front-wheel-drive, six-speed automatic transmission with improved fuel economy.
The move is the latest collaboration by Ford, which has already worked with PSA Peugeot-Citroën to develop direct injection diesel engines. This time, Ford and GM Ford have signed an initial agreement with the final agreement expected in the coming months.
The new transmission would offer an estimated 4 per cent to 8 per cent improvement in fuel economy over traditional four-speed automatic transmissions available in today's front-wheel-drive cars. Under the deal signed last week, Ford and GM agreed to:
Share a common design, engineering and testing of the new transmission;
Jointly work with suppliers to develop and purchase components;
Assemble their own transmissions at their respective manufacturing plants.
The new six-speed should be available between 2005 and 2009 on front-wheel-drive cars and sport-utility vehicles with mid-to-large engines.
Both firms are quick to underline that the move will not make their models clones of each other. "Since the transmissions will be mated to different engines and the respective vehicle models in which they're installed will have unique performance dynamics and tuning," said Ford group vice-president, North America, Jim Padilla.
They claim the new six-speed will be capable of higher torque capacity when compared to most existing front-wheel-drive transmissions such as four-speed automatics and continuously variable transmissions (CVTs).