Ford/GM 10-Speed Transmissions Headed For Production?
Earlier this year, Ford and GM announced they were working on 9-speed and 10-speed transmissions together. Today's announcement by General Motors seems to be the most concrete evidence of their progress.
Detroit News reported today that General Motors is to invest nearly $1.3B in Midwest. There were various investments in different plants, but the ones that stood out were those about 10-speed transmissions.
"Which includes $343.4 million for equipment to produce a 10-speed automatic transmission, and $150 million to increase production capacity of a previously announced V-6 engine. GM previously said that production of the engine would start in late 2015. Reuss told reporters he did not have specifics on the timeline of the transmission or which vehicles it would be used in.
GM’s Toledo Transmission plant will receive $30.6 million to boost capacity of an existing six-speed transmission and tooling for a variant; and $29.2 million will go to the Bedford Castings facility, including $22.6 million to make components for the 10-speed transmission and $6.6 million to build components for the six-speed."
With tooling underway at GM transmission plants, it's clear that development and testing is done, and it's now time to go into production. Which means Ford should be making an announcement about investments at their Livonia, Sharonville and Van **** Transmission Plants.
But since there has been no announcement about the investment, it also seems the new 2015 F-150 will not 'initially' have the new 10-speed transmission.
Not so fast...
The Detroit Free Press reported on December, 27, 2012 that Ford kicked off a $773 million dollar investment in 6 plants to start early 2013. This expansion was to take two years to complete(2013/2014). And part of that expansion included $88 million at the Van **** Transmission Plant for FWD transmission, and another $75 million at the Livonia Transmission Plant to:
"add a second line to expand capacity to supply rear-drive transmissions for the F-Series and Ranger pickups."
Ranger Pickups??? The last Ranger pickup came off the assembly line on/around December 16, 2011. That's one year before the transmission investment.
Which indicates that Ford may have already made their investment for the new 9-speed transmission at Van ****, along with the new 10-speed transmission at Livonia. This could also explain why the 2015 F-150 was seen leaving a GM proving ground recently, and would be the only way the new 10-speed could be ready to launch in the 2015 F-150 in a few months.
Also, why would Ford need to expand transmission production for the Ranger pickup that was discontinued in the US a year earlier?
Clearly Ford is not planning to build transmissions for the new global Ranger and ship them outside the country. The only logical explanation would be that Ford intended to bring the global Ranger to the US all along as many expected. Ford and GM are in the same exact business, and do the same market research and apparently have come to the same conclusion. That the small pick-up market is growing and is expected to increase at a fast pace, just like compact car, small suv and the small luxury vehicle market. And there is no way that Ford will stand by and let GM become the King of the small pick-ups when the award winning global Ranger is ready to go.
Which means, as expected, the global Ranger/F-100 should be introduced after the launch of the new, bigger, overlap-free 2015 F-150. :rock:
Earlier this year, Ford and GM announced they were working on 9-speed and 10-speed transmissions together. Today's announcement by General Motors seems to be the most concrete evidence of their progress.
Detroit News reported today that General Motors is to invest nearly $1.3B in Midwest. There were various investments in different plants, but the ones that stood out were those about 10-speed transmissions.
"Which includes $343.4 million for equipment to produce a 10-speed automatic transmission, and $150 million to increase production capacity of a previously announced V-6 engine. GM previously said that production of the engine would start in late 2015. Reuss told reporters he did not have specifics on the timeline of the transmission or which vehicles it would be used in.
GM’s Toledo Transmission plant will receive $30.6 million to boost capacity of an existing six-speed transmission and tooling for a variant; and $29.2 million will go to the Bedford Castings facility, including $22.6 million to make components for the 10-speed transmission and $6.6 million to build components for the six-speed."
With tooling underway at GM transmission plants, it's clear that development and testing is done, and it's now time to go into production. Which means Ford should be making an announcement about investments at their Livonia, Sharonville and Van **** Transmission Plants.
But since there has been no announcement about the investment, it also seems the new 2015 F-150 will not 'initially' have the new 10-speed transmission.
Not so fast...
The Detroit Free Press reported on December, 27, 2012 that Ford kicked off a $773 million dollar investment in 6 plants to start early 2013. This expansion was to take two years to complete(2013/2014). And part of that expansion included $88 million at the Van **** Transmission Plant for FWD transmission, and another $75 million at the Livonia Transmission Plant to:
"add a second line to expand capacity to supply rear-drive transmissions for the F-Series and Ranger pickups."
Ranger Pickups??? The last Ranger pickup came off the assembly line on/around December 16, 2011. That's one year before the transmission investment.
Which indicates that Ford may have already made their investment for the new 9-speed transmission at Van ****, along with the new 10-speed transmission at Livonia. This could also explain why the 2015 F-150 was seen leaving a GM proving ground recently, and would be the only way the new 10-speed could be ready to launch in the 2015 F-150 in a few months.
Also, why would Ford need to expand transmission production for the Ranger pickup that was discontinued in the US a year earlier?
Clearly Ford is not planning to build transmissions for the new global Ranger and ship them outside the country. The only logical explanation would be that Ford intended to bring the global Ranger to the US all along as many expected. Ford and GM are in the same exact business, and do the same market research and apparently have come to the same conclusion. That the small pick-up market is growing and is expected to increase at a fast pace, just like compact car, small suv and the small luxury vehicle market. And there is no way that Ford will stand by and let GM become the King of the small pick-ups when the award winning global Ranger is ready to go.
Which means, as expected, the global Ranger/F-100 should be introduced after the launch of the new, bigger, overlap-free 2015 F-150. :rock:
