Although the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray launched with a carryover six-speed automatic, the sports car will soon benefit from a new eight-speed transmission, a Society of Automotive Engineers technical paper has confirmed.

A preview of the paper, briefly posted to the SAE’s website and subsequently removed, revealed that the eight-speed automatic will arrive on the Corvette’s options list for the 2015 model year.

Dubbed the 8L90, the rear-wheel-drive gearbox will offer an overall ratio spread of 7.0 and a shorter first gear for quicker acceleration. As the current Corvette six-speed automatic is capable of 45 kmpg on the highway, the octa-cog unit could boost freeway mileage to 48 kmpg or higher – not too shabby for a 455-horsepower performance machine.

The SAE paper also notes that the eight-speed will be able to handle torque output of up to 738 lb-ft. That means it could potentially be offered in the next iteration of the Corvette Z06, which to this point has only been available with manual transmissions. Of course, we’ll have to wait until next month’s Detroit Auto Show to be sure.

While pure speculation at this point, we wouldn’t be surprised if the new gearbox eventually found its way into GM’s full-size pickups as a counter to the Ram 1500 eight-speed.

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