The modern usage of the automotive term manumatic denotes an

automatic transmission 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 ...

that allows the driver to select a specific gear, typically using paddle-shifters, steering wheel-mounted push-buttons, or "+" and "-" controls on the gear selector. In the 1950s, the ''

Automotive Products Automotive Products, commonly abbreviated to AP, was an automotive industry components company set up in 1920 by Edward Boughton, Willie Emmott and Denis Brock, to import and sell American-made components to service the fleet of ex-military truc ...

'' company in the United Kingdom produced an automated clutch system for

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

s called the ''Manumatic''. This system was installed in cars with a

manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear change ...

, allowing them to be driven without needing to use a clutch pedal.

Automatic transmissions

Since the popularization of the hydraulic automatic transmission in the 1940s, many automatic transmissions have allowed indirect control of the gear selection, usually in the form of locking out higher gears. This was provided to allow engine braking on downhills or prevent the use of overdrive gears when towing and was typically achieved using positions such as "3", "2", and "1" on the gear selector. An automatic transmission with a ''manumatic'' function provides a greater level of control by allowing the driver to request an upshift or downshift at a specific time. This is usually achieved using "+" and "-" positions on the gear selector or with paddle-shifters mounted beside the steering wheel. Manufacturers use a variety of tradenames for the manumatic function, as listed below. The driver often does not have full control of the gear selection, as most manumatic modes will deny a gear change request that would result in the engine stalling (from too few RPM) or over-revving. Some transmissions will hold the requested gear indefinitely, while others will return to automatic gear selection after a period of time.

Tradenames

* Alfa Romeo: Sportronic, Q-System, Q-Tronic *

Alpina Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH & Co. KG is an automobile manufacturing company based in Buchloe, in the Ostallgäu district of Bavaria, Germany that develops and sells high-performance versions of BMW cars. Alpina works closely with BMW an ...

: Switchtronic * Aston Martin: Touchtronic * BMW: Steptronic * Chevrolet / Saturn: TAPshift * Chrysler / Dodge / Jeep /

Ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

: AutoStick * Ford (Australia): Sequential Sports Shift * Ford (USA): SelectShift * Holden: Active Select *

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

/ Acura: S-matic, MultiMatic, SportShift * Hyundai:

Shiftronic Shiftronic is Hyundai Motor Company's version of the manumatic automatic transmission. A ''Shiftronic'' transmission can operate just like a conventional automatic transmission, but it also allows the driver to override the computer's ''automatic'' ...

, HIVEC H-Matic *

Infiniti is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Nissan. Infiniti officially started selling vehicles on November 8, 1989, in North America. The marketing network for Infiniti-branded vehicles included dealers in over 50 countries in ...

: Manual Shift Mode * Jaguar: Bosch Mechatronic * Kia: Sportmatic * Lancia: Comfortronic * Land Rover: CommandShift *

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...

: E-Shift *

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

: SelectShift *

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...

: ActiveMatic, SportMatic (North America) *

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

: TouchShift, G-Tronic * MG-Rover: Steptronic * Mitsubishi: INVECS, INVECS-II, Sportronic, Tiptronic * Nissan: Xtronic (also used in ''Xtronic CVT''), DualMatic M-ATx * Opel / Vauxhall: ActiveSelect, Tiptronic * Peugeot: Tiptronic * Pontiac: TACshift (''Touch Activated Control''), TAPshift (''Touch Activated Power''), Driver Shift Control (''DSC'') * Proton: PROTRONIC * Subaru: Sportshift *

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

: ECT *

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

/ SEAT / Škoda / Porsche: Tiptronic *

Volvo Cars Volvo Cars ( sv, Volvo personvagnar, styled VOLVO in the company's logo) is a Swedish multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Torslanda, Gothenburg. The company manufactures SUVs, station wagons, and sedans. The company ...

: Geartronic

1950s automated clutch system

The Automotive Products company in the United Kingdom produced an automated clutch system for automobiles in the 1950s called the ''Manumatic''. This system is largely unrelated to later use of the term relating to automatic transmissions. The ''Manumatic'' was installed in cars with a manual transmission, allowing them to be driven without needing to use a clutch pedal. According to the modern use of the term it would be classified as an automated manual transmission and not as a manumatic transmission.

References

{{Powertrain Automotive transmission technologies

Automatic transmissions

Tradenames

1950s automated clutch system

See also

References