Selespeed is the name of an
automated manual transmission
The automated manual transmission (AMT) is a type of transmission for motor vehicles. It is essentially a conventional manual transmission but uses automatic actuation to operate the clutch and/or shift between gears.
Many early versions of t ...
used in
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...
cars, developed by Italian company
Magneti Marelli
Magneti Marelli S.p.A. () is an Italian developer and manufacturer of components for the automotive industry. The firm is headquartered in Corbetta, Italy, and includes 86 manufacturing plants, 12 R&D centres, and 26 application centers in 19 c ...
and made by
Graziano Trasmissioni
Dana Graziano (former Graziano Trasmissioni) is an Italian company based in Turin manufacturing gearboxes, drivelines and their mechatronics components.
It makes the "Pre-Cog" seven-speed Seamless-Shift gearbox (SSG) dual-clutch transmission used ...
.
The Selespeed is an automated manual gearbox with an electronic clutch. In its current incarnation, it can be operated via paddle-shifters from the steering wheel or via a "joystick" like a conventional
sequential manual gearbox
A sequential manual transmission, also known as a sequential gearbox, or a sequential transmission, is a type of non-synchronous manual transmission used mostly for motorcycles and racing cars. It produces faster shift time
Shift time refers ...
, used in
touring cars
Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States.
While the cars do not move ...
. The right-hand paddle-shifter shifts upwards and the left side downwards. The gearbox also has a city-mode that self-shifts in a manner similar to a traditional
automatic gearbox
An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving c ...
.
![Alfa 156 JTS](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Alfa_156_JTS.jpg)
Selespeed was first introduced in 1999 in the
Alfa Romeo 156
The Alfa Romeo 156 (Type 932) is a compact executive car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Alfa Romeo. It was introduced at the 1997 Frankfurt Motor Show as the replacement for the Alfa Romeo 155. The 156 received a positive recep ...
.
At that time it was the first car in its class with such a robotized gearbox. This first version had buttons on the steering wheel for changing gear. With the facelift of the 156 in 2002, these buttons were replaced by paddle-shifters (first seen in the
Alfa Romeo 147
The Alfa Romeo 147 (Type 937) is a small family car produced by the Italian automaker Alfa Romeo from 2000 to 2010. The 147 was voted European Car of the Year in 2001.
The 147 was launched at the Turin Motor Show in June 2000 as a replacement fo ...
) due to a new steering wheel design.
During normal driving, it is possible to use either the paddles or the joystick but if the driver tries to use paddles during joystick mode the joystick has higher priority. The speed of the gear change depends on the engine revs. If the engine has more than 5000 rpm and the throttle is pressed more than 60%, the change is faster. The system also has a rev limiter to avoid over-revving (in GTA models this behavior is removed). Downshift is accompanied by automatic rev-matching. This gearbox is made for sportive driving but the city-mode allows using it as an automatic transmission in city driving.
Models
Automated manual transmissions made by Magneti Marelli are called “Selespeed” in Alfa Romeo cars, “Dualogic” in Fiat cars, and “D.F.N” in Lancia cars.
Other cars using similar gearboxes are the
Ferrari 355 F1 and
Aston Martin Vanquish
The Aston Martin Vanquish is a high-performance grand tourer introduced by British luxury automobile manufacturer Aston Martin in 2001 as a successor to the Aston Martin Vantage (1993).
The Aston Martin "V12 Vanquish," designed by Ian Callum ...
.
The base system is similar in all cars but the speed of operation is usually faster in higher priced cars. BMW's first generation SMG was also partly a Magneti Marelli system.
Also Fiat, Lamborghini, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Peugeot and Citroen used the Selespeed system.
[Automotive News]
Automotive News
accessdate: 1 July 2019
Notes
External links
selespeed.info
{{Authority control
Alfa Romeo
Automotive technology tradenames
Automobile transmissions