Did your favorite brand just move to six-speed automatics? Are you already cruising along happily in seventh gear or perhaps you’re enjoying the scenery with your transmission lazily churning in eighth. Well move over because ZF is getting ready to produce a nine-speed automatic gearbox.
Marking a first for front-wheel drive passenger vehicles, the ZF nine-speed will help automakers generate greater fuel-economy gains while also providing a smoother driving experience. The shift times are said to be quite short and the resulting gear changes are nearly imperceptible to passengers.
The nine-speed automatic will be produced in a brand-new manufacaturing facility located near Greenville, South Carolina, and there’s talk that one of its first homes will be under the hood of something from Chrysler.
