Yes it was German scientists in the early 20th Century that first developed a version of an automatic transmission.

Unfortunately for the automotive industry it was designed specifically for use in boats.

Obviously those early Germans did not foresee their countries later dominance of the automatic luxury vehicle market. At that time the average car had no more than three gears (one being reverse) so changing gears was not the chore it is today.

Related posts:

1. The Early Days
2. Budget Automatics
3. Maserati Quattroporte

Tags: automatic, luxury, transmission, vehicle

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Automatics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.