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As we are all aware, many manufacturers are turning to 8 speed transmissions for fuel economy. I personally owned one for five years in my Lexus and absolutely loved the thing. It did have its quirks but for the most part it allowed me to get phenomenal fuel economy out of a V8. I believe the transmission was made by Aisin. Today I was in a professional development class run by a ZF factory rep. ZF is the second largest OE parts manufacturer for German vehicles (second to only to Bosch). What the guy told me about the 8 speed transmission that they mass produce for VW Audi, Mercedes, Chrysler and others, really kind of blew my mind. He said they make so many of these transmissions that they needed to build a factory next to BMW in America because they couldn't ship them over here fast enough. They used to fly them over but what happened was the transmissions were filled with fluid, and the fluid poured out while the planes took off (and they were heavily fined). They build thousands of these units a day. Long story short...they sold the blueprint of the transmission to Chrysler. They make 8 dollars off of every transmission Chrysler puts into their cars (plus whatever they paid for the rights to the transmission). The transmission is put in everything from the Hellcat, to the Ram. The guy was asked how many transmissions are rebuilt on warranty through ZF - he said 60 a day - and that they could/should be doing more but their division can't handle the workload. He was asked how many of those transmissions were failures from Chrysler...he said 95%. I was shocked. He said Chrysler chose to take the spec sheet and low bid all the internal solenoids and use cheaper metals. That crazy or what? ZF bought TRW, so a lot of the class was about TRW, suspension components...how modifications can stress bearings, etc. He talked about the different ways aftermarket ball joints and tie rods affect electric steering racks. It was pretty cool. He also talked about how Audi had wiring issues with their A4 (grounds) and a solution was discovered for 80 cents a vehicle...and it was voted down because they would have to layoff everyone in that division and change manufacturers who made the ground components. It was voted down unanimously. Haha. They could have solved their ground issues but instead decided it was better not to. They talked about their diesel fiasco and how the program was biapased by the steering angle sensor (pretty ingenious until they were caught). What I took away from the class was how everything is money driven in this industry. Everything. You like a certain brand?? They don't like you. You should have heard what was said about Moog autoparts (they wrote the book on cutting corners and manipulating the market). Very interesting.
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Getting sued for emissions software. http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2017/05/24/us-says-fiat-chrysler-used-software-to-cheat-emissions-tests.html
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8tKtYXztzY The video hits on a lot of emotional levels. It's a virtual tip of the hat to the the Big Three (most of whom have been producing pickup trucks since before Nissan was ever founded). It also is a sly way for Nissan to read a hand out to current Silverado, Sierra, F-150 and Ram owners. "It's ok, we're just like you!" What do you think of this video? How will it resonate with current Chevy, Ford, and Ram owners? -
Zane Merva Executive Editor & Founder, GM-Trucks.com 1/12/16 Nissan is going full force promoting the all new Titan pickup. Yesterday the company released a 90-second video spot on YouTube that lets the world know it respects the pickup brands that have come before. In a weird way, it's almost as if Nissan is acknowledging the previous generation Titan was a sub-par effort and is pretending it never existed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8tKtYXztzY The video hits on a lot of emotional levels. It's a virtual tip of the hat to the the Big Three (most of whom have been producing pickup trucks since before Nissan was ever founded). It also is a sly way for Nissan to read a hand out to current Silverado, Sierra, F-150 and Ram owners. "It's ok, we're just like you!" What do you think of this video? How will it resonate with current Chevy, Ford, and Ram owners?
