Tiptronic is a type of semi-automatic transmission developed by Porsche and used in its vehicles. Tiptronic allows the driver to override the automatic mode by moving the lever into a second (tiptronic) shift gate and permits, for example, downshifting to increase the braking effect of the engine or for more performance.
Most luxury marques which offer a tiptronic drive standardly in a Comfort program and have additional Sport program which delays upshifts for a sportier driving style. Shift quality has been further improved due to electronics synthesized directly into the transmission; these electronics are the shifter's electronic brain which adapts the shift points to a driver's driving style. Some exotic marques such as Aston Martin and Ferrari offer paddle-shifters behind the steering wheel to take the tiptronic technology to a new more sportier level.
The Tiptronic® registered trademark is used exclusively by German sports car maker Porsche who shares it with Volkswagen and Audi, two companies it has formed an alliance with.
Other manufacturers use Tiptronic-like systems under different names:
Tiptronic® is a registered trademark of Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche AG.
