Hyundai developing new 10-speed automatic transmission

Meeting increasingly demanding CAFE requirements while still maintaining the kind of overall drivability that consumers insist upon has become a key challenge for all automakers. In addition to decreasing the displacement and number of cylinders in their engines, more and more have started to help that effort by increasing the cog count in their conventional automatic transmissions. At the moment, the industry leaders are autoshifters with eight ratios to help max mileage numbers, but Hyundai Motor Group president, Park Seong Hyon, recently confirmed that his firm plans to raise that figure to 10. Although revealing no technical details about this new super-efficient 10-speed automatic transmission, he did indicate that it will be offered in the group’s luxury models by mid-decade. Beyond seeing duty in the primo Equus and Genesis lines, we can’t help but wonder if it might also spawn a family of automatics with one or two fewer ratios that would help boost the EPA numbers of several less pricey members of the Hyundai and/or Kia families.