GM's 8-Speed? It May Actually Be Happening This Time!

[YSSMAN]

Thats right folks, you herd it here... GM has trademarked an eight-speed transmission, so Lexus won't be the only superpower in the "Cog Wars."

General Motors might not be the first company that comes to mind when thinking about high-tech gadgets and gizmos. But a new trademark filing suggests The General might be planning to go after technology-obsessed Lexus with an eight speed transmission of its own. On August 8th, GM registered the name "8 Speed" (pictured) in reference to automobile transmissions. To us, this can only mean one thing. Currently, Lexus is the only automaker with an eight speed transmission. Might GM's Cadillac and Buick brands be getting ready to fight back? Pictured right is the styled text intended for the trademark (low-resolution only).

Hmmm, very interesting indeed. Should Cadillac improve the quality just a titch and keep most of the other pieces in place, and eight-speed transmission could do wonders for not only GM's reputation for engineering, but for Cadillac's reputation as well.

...Or it could be something new for the ULS sedan?

 

[skip0110]

A Supercharged Northstar powerplant backed by this 8-speed in an XLR-V makes me salivate.

Screw Lexus, GM can go after AMG...

 

[Tornado]

It still won't be worth the price even if it ha an 18 speed. But I don't see the point in the 8 speed since GM still hasn't fully gotten rid of the 4L60E.

 

[skip0110]

I suspect the reason is different transmissions for different price points.

Pontiac/Chevy will only get 5 or 6 speed RWD trannies.

 

[YSSMAN]

It still won't be worth the price even if it ha an 18 speed. But I don't see the point in the 8 speed since GM still hasn't fully gotten rid of the 4L60E.

Actually the 4L80E and 4T65E/4T80E automatics are on the way out as of right now, so we are waiting for the generation changes to get everything "fixed." They are being replaced by the 6L80E and 6T70E in many different models, but for the most part, the 4-speed variants will soldier on on "base" models untill the 6-speed versions become a bit cheaper to put into the vehicles.

...Either way, the "8L80E" would certainy be a Cadillac-only transmission in the begining. Power restrictions would be fairly high, probably up to 500 BHP, and it wouldn't completely surprise me to see GM attempt to fit their two-mode hybrid system to it as well. Cadillac STS V8 Hybrid anyone?

 

[Pink_the_Floyd]

Only one thing;

Lexus was first

 

[daan]

Transmissions don't have speeds! They have gears. Do I have to drive quickly in 5th? Must I drive slower in 4th?

Who needs 8 gears anyway? That to me is just like GM, or Lexus, saying, "Our engine has such a narrow power band that you need to keep changing gears to keep up any kind of decent progress at all."

 

[Pink_the_Floyd]

Who needs 8 gears anyway?

Exactly!

 

[TheCracker]

Who needs 8 gears anyway? That to me is just like GM, or Lexus, saying, "Our engine has such a narrow power band that you need to keep changing gears to keep up any kind of decent progress at all."

👍 8 gears sounds like 2 gears more than anyone needs to me.

 

[Jim Prower]

Only one thing;

Lexus was first

But Nissan had an eight-speed in Japan for their (G35) Skyline Sedan. drive the Skyline 350GT-8 in GT4 if you don't believe me.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Dang I will have to ditch my old school T56 6 speed from my 69 Camaro and install one of these bad boys. Yeah right I am more than happy with only 6 gears.

 

[Jim Prower]

Besides, I'm sure you want a real stick, anyway.

 

[YSSMAN]

Well it has become more of a bragging-rights game, but I would generally say that six gears is about "perfect" for the ammount of cogs most transmissions will need. But innovation is a good thing, and if GM is doing it, who knows? Maybe DCX and Ford will get into the game too?

 

[red70mach1]

But Nissan had an eight-speed in Japan for their (G35) Skyline Sedan. drive the Skyline 350GT-8 in GT4 if you don't believe me.

Its a CVT with 8 preset steps in sport mode.

 

[weiss_komet]

If you have more gears dosent that mean you have better mileage considering that the engine speeds are lower? I think that its a good move for GM.

BTW, that would make an interesting shift gate in a manual car having 8 gears.

 

[YSSMAN]

If you have more gears dosent that mean you have better mileage considering that the engine speeds are lower? I think that its a good move for GM.

It depends on how GM sets the car up. The BMW M5/M6 have the fancy 7-speed SMG transmission that has rather short gearing combined with a fairly short axle ratio that all leads to pretty poor fuel mileage by comparison to the Chevrolet Z06 thats down a gear and up 2.0L in displacement. Of course the Corvette has an outrageously tall 5th and 6th gear compared to most cars, and even then the axles are never too short by comparison to other cars as well.

If GM follows in the footsteps of Lexus and Mercedes-Benz, spacing the gears out correctly for the powerband and programing a skip-shift feature to make best-use of the transmission when all eight gears aren't needed. A tall axle will probably come into play, probably a 3.55 or more, with the gears in the transmission themselves being shorter 1-5, 6-8 being quite tall, the tallest probably well below the current T-56 preset at 0.60 (or is it 0.65?).

 

[YSSMAN]

RISE OF THE LIVING THREAD!​

General Motors isn't giving away any of the specifics just yet, but it does have a seven- and even an eight-speed automatic transmission tucked away in its product development cycle.

Jim Lanzon, executive director of GM Powertrain's Transmission Engineering, acknowledged last week GM is looking at the transmissions that have begun showing up on luxury models such as the BMW M5.



"I can't give away any new product news but we're looking at everything," he said.

One of the issues GM is wrestling with now is whether a seven- or eight-speed transmission will produce the kind of gains in fuel economy that would justify the cost of engineering them into a vehicle, Lanzon said.



"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," he said.

Lanzon emphasized GM already has the skills needed to put a seven-speed or eight-speed transmission into production very quickly and at relatively low cost. In the past four years, GM, with the aid of computerized tools, has launched nine new six-speed transmission models. In the past, GM would spend a decade developing three or four new transmissions.


The new technology utilized by GM has shaved as much as six months and $15 million from the typical development of a transmission, Lanzon said. The technology also saved the company more than $100 million during the latest development cycle, which has put six-speed transmissions in everything from the Chevrolet Corvette to mid-size crossover vehicles, he said.



The technology also has helped boost the quality and dependability of the new units, which have had few changes, Lanzon said. Not only are the costs down, but the quality has improved, he said.

Lanzon said GM's transmission engineers are using sophisticated math modeling, among other advanced tools, to not only design the transmission components, but also to predict and test their reliability, analyzing functions such as oil pressure and flow, lubrication distribution, and shift quality.

Its been a patented thing thats been on the book for a while, but its good to hear about it again. My guess is that we're going to need to worry more about the proliferation of the six-speed unit long before we see the debut of the seven or eight speed unit. Should we see one soon, my guess would be it shows up in a Cadillac before anything else...

 

[m7ammed]

It depends on how GM sets the car up. The BMW M5/M6 have the fancy 7-speed SMG transmission that has rather short gearing combined with a fairly short axle ratio that all leads to pretty poor fuel mileage by comparison to the Chevrolet Z06 thats down a gear and up 2.0L in displacement. Of course the Corvette has an outrageously tall 5th and 6th gear compared to most cars, and even then the axles are never too short by comparison to other cars as well.

anybody who buys an M5/M6 ,Z06,AMG, RS....etc doesn't look at MPGs they look at performance which will always have a negative effect on MPG