It wasn’t so long ago that even luxury cars were equipped with 4-speed automatic transmissions, but customer demand for more refinement and better fuel efficiency has seen the introduction of 6-, 7- and 8-speed units in recent years. Now, GM and Ford are teaming up to raise the bar even higher with a family of advanced 9- and 10-speed automatic transmissions that will be used by both automakers in some of their most important future products. “The goal is to keep hardware identical in the Ford and GM transmissions,” said Craig Renneker, Ford’s chief engineer for transmission and driveline component and pre-program engineering. “This will maximize parts commonality and give both companies economy of scale. However, we…
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