It's a far cry from that three-speed in a '92 Corsica. German transmission manufacturer ZF just announced a new eight-speed automatic, which the company claims will provide a 14-percent boost in fuel efficiency compared to a five-speed, according to AutoblogGreen. Remember that last year, Lexus was the first company to bring an eight-speed automatic to market in its top of the line LS460. For this transmission, though, it looks as if Audi and BMW will be the first to get it.

"Audi may be first out of the gate in 2009, with eight-speed installations in the A8, Q7 and the expected A7 coupe," the report said. "BMW will probably follow a year later with the X6 and the next-generation 7 series getting the extra gears."

Eight-speed transmissions are incredibly complicated, and the benefit with each extra gear becomes less and less. So it's likely that we won't see many nine or ten speed transmissions any time soon.