Drivetrain advances

Japan's leading companies have focused development on reducing size, mass, and cost.

Japan is a predominantly automatic transmission country, with a small proportion of manual transmissions enjoyed by die-hard driving enthusiasts and accepted by economy-conscious utilitarian users. Accustomed to the automatic's smooth and less-arduous progression through narrow roads and congested traffic, the Japanese have not embraced automatically shifting manual transmissions.

On the other hand, the continuously variable transmission (CVT) population is rapidly growing, with Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, and Fuji Heavy Industries offering a large variety of cars equipped with CVT, from the Subaru R2/1 mini to the 3.5-L V6-propelled Murano SUV. These all employ the VDT (Dutch Van Doorne Transmissie) push-type steel belt and pulley system. Nissan's ambitious and extremely smooth and responsive Extroid toroidal CVT is still listed as a top option in the Skyline (Infiniti G35), but has been dormant, awaiting a second awakening.