Is it better to buy a car with an AT transmission or a CVT transmission?

Aisin acquired ZF’s patent license and subsequently incorporated the Lepelletier gearset—used in its 6-speed AT—into its later 8-speed AT. This continuity in manufacturing processes and design has contributed to consistently stable quality. General Motors’ 6-speed AT arrived later; constrained by ZF’s patents, it adopted a Simpson planetary gearset combined with a single-row planetary gearset. Between these two, GM’s design is more compact but demands higher manufacturing precision. Aisin’s 6-speed AT, by contrast, features a simpler structure with fewer bearings—generally speaking, simpler designs tend to have lower failure rates. ZF’s 8-speed AT is standard equipment on many luxury vehicles; however, it does not utilize ZF’s own prior 6-speed AT patents, instead employing an entirely new architecture—highlighting a fundamental difference in design philosophy between ZF and Aisin, the two leading transmission suppliers. Some manufacturers’ ATs even omit torque converters—for example, Mazda’s 8-speed AT delivers power more directly. CVTs fall into two categories: steel-chain-driven and steel-belt-driven. Korean vehicles, Subaru, older Audi models, and some Nissan models use the latter; Toyota, Honda, certain Nissan models, and Chery mainly use the former. The core steel chains are supplied by Schaeffler, while the core steel belts come from Bosch. Steel-belt CVTs boast higher production volumes and lower costs—but are frequently criticized for poor durability; steel-chain CVTs, conversely, can handle greater torque. Detailed explanations of these mechanical differences are available in videos by the automotive expert “Old Wang.” Toyota’s DCVT (Dynamic CVT) deserves special mention: structurally, it combines advantages of both steel-belt transmission and gear transmission. At low speeds and during takeoff, it uses gear transmission to deliver power—resolving traditional CVT drawbacks like sluggish initial response and low transmission efficiency. At medium-to-high speeds, it switches to steel-belt transmission to maintain smooth power delivery and fuel efficiency. Dry dual-clutch transmissions (DCTs) have long been criticized for high failure rates, poor durability, and quality issues—even featured on China’s annual March 15th Consumer Rights Day expos. Wet DCTs, by comparison, offer greater reliability due to superior clutch-plate cooling; they’re widely used by Volkswagen and numerous domestic Chinese automakers. Most DCTs employ direct-drive clutches, whereas Honda’s DCT is an outlier—it incorporates a torque converter, reportedly derived from a modified version of its older parallel-shaft transmission.

KCM Kerkes: What do 'overvaluation' and 'undervaluation' mean for funds?

When a fund’s market price exceeds its intrinsic value, it is considered overvalued—meaning, simply put, that the fund’s net asset value (NAV) does not justify its current price. Conversely, if the fund’s market price falls below its intrinsic value, it is undervalued—indicating that the fund’s NAV is actually worth more than its current price. To assess whether a fund is over- or undervalued, investors primarily rely on the price-to-earnings ratio (PE), supplemented by the price-to-book ratio (PB) for improved accuracy. Generally, higher PE and PB ratios suggest overvaluation, while lower ratios indicate undervaluation. Typically, the PE ratio is more suitable for evaluating sector-specific funds in stable-performance industries such as consumer staples and healthcare. The PB ratio, meanwhile, is more appropriate for cyclical-sector funds. If investors purchase funds via Alipay, they can access the platform’s ‘Index Traffic Light’ feature to view percentile rankings for certain index-based funds—providing insight into their relative valuation levels. A fund deemed undervalued signals potential long-term investment value, increasing the likelihood that investors will profit upon purchase.

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