Shifty Events from New York Auto Show
March 21, 2008

By Bill Visnic

NEW YORK — There was plenty of industry chatter this week about the connotations of the New York auto show. Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp.’s Pontiac decided to headline a couple of muscle cars that raised hypersensitive environmental eyebrows, not to mention a handful of low-volume, less high-profile models that didn’t issue a particularly positive sustainability message, either.

Lost in the hubris over whether the likes of the Pontiac G8, Dodge Challenger and BMW M3 Convertible are politically correct endeavors were interesting developments in the greasy regions that could end up saving more fuel than a healthy fleet of hybrid-electric vehicles.

Two automakers unveiled new, significantly more efficient transmissions at the New York show.

Nissan’s upscale Infiniti division said the 3.5-liter V6 and five-liter V8 of the 2009 FX35 and FX50 crossovers are backed by a new seven-speed automatic transmission, the first use of a seven-speed automatic for a Nissan/Infiniti vehicle. Nissan had been slow to jump on the bandwagon of fuel-saving multispeed automatic transmissions, relying on older-technology five-speed units while competitors such as Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus have moved to seven- and even eight-speed automatics.

Some supplier sources suggest an eight-speed automatic, for example, can improve fuel economy by some 12-14 percent compared with the five-speed automatic transmissions that were a luxury-market staple just a few years ago.

The all-wheel-drive version of the new FX35 weighs almost the same as its predecessor, but estimated fuel economy is improved by 1 mpg in the city and highway drive cycles — to 16 and 21 mpg — representing an overall fuel-economy gain of about 5 percent, despite a V6 that is 28 horsepower stronger.

The save-the-whales crowd won’t be kissing BMW on the lips for its 414-hp M3, but all coupe, sedan and convertible variants usher in the company’s significant new M DCT Drivelogic transmission, a seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual that is BMW’s rival for the well-received Direct Shift Gearbox developed by the Volkswagen Group and transmission powerhouse BorgWarner Inc. BorgWarner also supplies most of the critical components for BMW’s dual-clutch automated manual.

This new breed of automated transmissions offers the peerless efficiency of a traditional manual transmission, but uses sophisticated electrohydraulic controls to free the driver from the rigors of manipulating the clutch. BMW’s dual-clutch M DCT Drivelogic transmission can thus be used like a conventional automatic, but because it is not saddled with an efficiency-sapping torque converter, is markedly more efficient than a standard automatic.

The M DCT Drivelogic is optional for the M3 and becomes the de facto automatic transmission for the car, but BMW says it is more fuel-efficient than a conventional automatic. Fuel-economy figures are not yet available to compare the M DCT Drivelogic transmission with an M3 using the standard six-speed manual.

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