Not since the bicycle-gear wars of the 1970s got neighborhood kids to embrace the "second lever" for downhill runs has the race for more gears been as intense as it is now. Toyota confirmed to be working on an eight-speed transmission with Aisin, a powertrain supplier. The company didn't give a timeline for the first eight-speed autoboxes to show up in its Lexus cars (the most likely candidates), but the motivation is to show-up Mercedes's 7-TRONIC tranny by skipping directly to eight from six.

Transmission Wars: Toyota Ups the Ante With Eight-Speeds [internal]

Related:
Carmakers Push Toward Eight-Speed Transmissions [internal]

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