FORD and GM today signed an agreement to confirm that the two companies will develop and produce ‘an all-new generation of advanced technology 9- and 10-speed automatic transmissions for cars, crossovers, SUVs and trucks’.The new automatic transmissions will be built for both front and rear-wheel drive vehicles and are set to improve fuel economy and performance.A spokesman for the two companies said: “The deal will allow both Ford and GM to design, develop, engineer, test, validate and deliver these new transmissions for their vehicles faster and at lower cost than if each company worked independently.”

The new agreement marks the third time in the past decade that GM and Ford have collaborated on transmissions. The two are bitter eneimies in the automotive world.  Their previous partnerships have allowed both companies ‘to deliver more than eight million durable, high-quality 6-speed front-wheel drive transmissions to customers around the globe’.“Engineering teams from GM and Ford have already started initial design work on these new transmissions,” said Jim Lanzon, GM vice president of global transmission engineering. “We expect these new transmissions to raise the standard of technology, performance and quality for our customers while helping drive fuel economy improvements in future vehicles.”

With the new Ford Mondeo set for release in the UK next year, Ford is reinventing its design philosophy and it will not be long before these automatic transmissions reach cars destined for Britain’s roads.  “The goal is to keep hardware identical in the Ford and GM transmissions,” explained Craig Renneker, Ford’s Chief Engineer for transmission components. “This will maximize parts commonality and give both companies economy of scale. However, we will each use our own control software to ensure that each transmission is carefully matched to the individual brand-specific vehicle DNA for each company.”By working together, the two companies can save money on a risky project as developing an automatic transmission system with more gears will be costly.  

Joe Bakaj, Ford vice president of Powertrain engineering, added: “With the jointly developed six-speed automatics we have in production today, we’ve already proven that Ford and GM transmission engineers work extremely well together.“Our 6F family of transmissions has exceeded expectations and there is every reason to believe we will have the same success with these all new transmissions.”

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