Mercedes-Benz has filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to reserve the ‘8 G-Tronic’ name for use on “automobiles and parts thereof.”
Mercedes uses the G-Tronic name to denote its automatic transmissions, having previously introduced the 7 G-Tronic and more recently the 9 G-Tronic. It appears the automaker would now like to bridge the gap between the two transmissions with an eight-speed unit, though it’s not clear in which vehicle it will be used.
This is a very recent patent, with Mercedes only making the filing on August 10th, 2017. The application has been accepted by the USPTO and will be processed in the coming months.
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The filing could be an indication that Mercedes will debut a vehicle with an eight-speed automatic shortly. The automaker’s nine-speed 9 G-Tronic transmission has replaced the seven-cog unit in most of its cars for 2018, but the eight-speed could be used in sportier applications in which an extra gear isn’t necessary. It’s also possible that Mercedes would simply like to reserve the 8 G-Tronic name just in case and has no concrete plans to implement it on a production car.
[Source: USPTO]
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