DETROIT – General Motors Corp . has introduced the first of a new generation of transmissions that will improve the fuel economy and performance of its cars and trucks.
GM invested $450 million to produce the new six-speed automatic transmissions at its sprawling Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti, Mich.
Adding the six-speed to Willow Run saved nearly 600 jobs at the plant, which already made four-speed transmissions and components. The plant employs 3,353 hourly and 305 salaried workers.
It will initially be able to make about 384,000 of the new transmissions a year. GM plans to increase that capacity as demand grows.
The transmission – called 6L80 – will be used in a range of GM’s highest-profile vehicles, including the Chevrolet Corvette, Cadillac STS-V and XLR-V and GMC Yukon SUV.
GM plans to introduce 10 six-speed automatic transmissions by 2010. By then, it expects to build 3 million of the gearboxes a year. GM says the transmissions will reduce fuel consumption as much as 4 percent. GM also estimates the transmissions can trim 0-to-60-mph times up to 7 percent.
The new transmissions coming out of Willow Run will be used in rear- and four-wheel-drive cars and trucks.
“Six-speed automatics improve fuel economy and make a car feel a lot more refined,” said Jim Hall, vice president for industry analysis at the Southfield, Mich., office of consultant AutoPacific. “GM is getting into it just at the right time – when the technology is becoming mainstream.”
Twenty-five GM models around the world are to use the transmissions by 2007.
“As well as fuel economy, six-speeds offer great performance benefits because the shifts are quicker and more precise,” said David Petrovski, analyst of North American powertrains with consultant CSM Worldwide, Farmington, Mich.
GM also has a family of six-speed automatics in the pipeline for its front-wheel-drive cars and upcoming front- and all-wheel-drive crossover wagons.
It plans to produce them at its plant in Warren, Mich., beginning in 2006. That transmission is to debut next year in the Saturn Aura midsize sedan.
GM then plans to add the transmission to other midsize cars and the new family of midsize crossovers that goes into production at its new assembly plant just outside Lansing, Mich., late in 2006.
GM and Ford cooperated on the basic design for the front-drive six-speeds, but they will produce their own versions of the transmission at separate facilities.
GM’s Hydra-Matic division produces virtually all the automaker’s automatic transmissions.
Hydra-Matic’s transmissions have a longstanding reputation for excellent durability and reliability; they’ve been standard equipment on some Rolls-Royce and BMW models for years.
However, Hydra-Matic lagged behind as many European and Japanese automakers moved from the traditional four-speed automatic to more efficient five- and six-speed transmissions.
The Willow Run plant dates back to 1939 and produced B-24 Liberator bombers during World War II.
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AP-NY-10-25-05 1959EDT
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