schiker
Well-Known Member
I posted this in drivetrain but should have done it here just another story....
I was talking to a guy from ZF transmissions US offices the other day and I asked him so what is the story you heard on why GM quit the manual transmission. I mentioned rumors I had heard too expensive to go for emission testing for low volume of sales. Bad reputation and problems with dual mass.
I told him GM has really had poor clutches in the last well ..... forever. And asked him why they had all the problems. He said he'd heard it was mostly a marketing and economy issue. Due to volume discount of the auto vs manual and added cost of clutch components (in low volume) the Auto was cheaper to build. And Marketing and sales never corrected the cost/sell difference. So GM was "loosing money" on manual transmissions if they could have sold an Auto.
I said well why didn't they make a better clutch and people would buy them. He said he heard the accountants and management cut the money so tight on the components that the quality suffered. They felt like they were paying the customer to put in a manual transmission. He said the engineers were not happy with the designs and quality but were cut off at the knees due to the numbers. I said did he hear of any flak about it and said not really. And that Ford and Dodge were probably in the same boat on the economy thing.
I said I had sign a few petitions here and there and was disappointed and if he got the chance to let someone know it.
I was talking to a guy from ZF transmissions US offices the other day and I asked him so what is the story you heard on why GM quit the manual transmission. I mentioned rumors I had heard too expensive to go for emission testing for low volume of sales. Bad reputation and problems with dual mass.
I told him GM has really had poor clutches in the last well ..... forever. And asked him why they had all the problems. He said he'd heard it was mostly a marketing and economy issue. Due to volume discount of the auto vs manual and added cost of clutch components (in low volume) the Auto was cheaper to build. And Marketing and sales never corrected the cost/sell difference. So GM was "loosing money" on manual transmissions if they could have sold an Auto.
I said well why didn't they make a better clutch and people would buy them. He said he heard the accountants and management cut the money so tight on the components that the quality suffered. They felt like they were paying the customer to put in a manual transmission. He said the engineers were not happy with the designs and quality but were cut off at the knees due to the numbers. I said did he hear of any flak about it and said not really. And that Ford and Dodge were probably in the same boat on the economy thing.
I said I had sign a few petitions here and there and was disappointed and if he got the chance to let someone know it.