A product of the original transmission collaboration, this six-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive transmission is used in multiple Ford products including Edge, Escape, Fusion and Explorer.Ford and General Motors have announced that the two companies have signed an agreement to work together in the development of nine- and 10-speed automatic transmissions.
The new transmissions will be built in both front- and rear-wheel-drive variants for cars, crossovers, SUVs and trucks. The end goal is unsurprising: to improve performance and fuel economy.
As Truck Trend pointed out, the piece of this announcement of particular interest to truck owners is that both front- and rear-wheel variants are included, “suggesting multi-ratio transmissions may be in the works.”
This marks the third collaboration between the two competitors in the last 10 years. The original collaboration resulted in the production of 8 million, six-speed front-wheel-drive transmissions.
The two report that they have enjoyed collaborating before and find that they get results faster, and at less expense, than if they developed the technology independently.
The initial design work on the new nine- and 10-speed transmissions is already underway. And though they will be developed together, the transmissions will be assembled separately in Ford and GM plants though with many common components.
There is no indication as of yet when these transmissions will hit the market.
