[Charles Martel]

I'd be more comfortable with an acknowledged transmission specialist such as Borg-Warner, Tremec or Getrag spearheading this design. That's the way it's worked in the past; the gearbox company designed the majority of the unit, then the various manufacturers specified input and output shaft dimensions, shifter locations - the details to make it fit their applications.

Still, anything with real, physical gears beats a CVT. Every time I end up in an Altima rental car, it reminds me of the 3.5 hp go-kart that I had as a kid. There's a definite "centrifugal clutch" sensation to the constant-variable design.

[nascarnation]

This is an automatic.
GM and Ford have historically done their automatics in house.
The 6 speed fwd for medium size cars has been a joint venture of Ford and GM since 2006.