Hyundai self developing 10-speed automatic transmission

How much is too much when it comes to gears? Cars like the BMW 5-Series come with eight forward ratios now, which is already a lot, but you can count on someone trying to outdo that. That someone is Hyundai, which is reported to be developing a 10-speed automatic transmission. Yes, 10.

Bloomberg News reported that Park Seong Hyon, president of Hyundai Motor Group, the umbrella company of Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp, is developing the said 10 speeder for future luxury vehicles starting in 2014.

These could possibly including the next Hyundai Genesis and Equus luxury sedans. ZF is rolling out a 9-speed auto in 2013, and this one will retake the lead, if no one else joins the race.

Automakers are increasingly using transmissions with more gears to cut fuel consumption and emissions, and this piece of news signals that the Korean carmaker is firmly on the path of developing its own transmissions, instead of picking one off the shelves of ZF, BorgWarner or Aisin.

The 6-speed slushbox servicing the current Sonata and Tucson is an in house effort, and earlier this year, Hyundai launched an self developed 8-speed auto for the 2012 Genesis and Equus sedans. But 10?

© 2011 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Fri, 30 Sep 11 03:12:08 +0000.

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