<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The complexity of automotive market, the request of new gearbox layout able to improve the efficiency of a vehicle and the requirement of quick and effective design of gearboxes push the designers to seek new technologies, new layouts, new solutions. The typical development of a gearbox requires a lot of time and engineers' effort and it often implies a lot of time to define the right layout.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The idea of developing a "paradigm" able to guide the designer through the design process seems to be effective. Starting from the experience of a code called "Engine Paradigm" where such idea was firstly implemented, the authors propose in the present paper the development of a code able to suggest a first attempt design of a gearbox. The "Gearbox Paradigm" code requires few data introduction, as torque, power, number of gears, some geometrical constraints such as the axes gap the gearbox layout, and the code elaborates a proposal of CAD design of a gearbox. All the calculation about gears, synchronizers, shafts, bearings, couplings are made by the code and some geometrical features are defined. These features are then passed to a CAD for generating the first attempt design and provide engineers of a starting point. The process is very fast, so a lot of configurations can be investigated.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">This instrument is not only useful for the design process, but also for the teaching activity. In the authors experience, having the possibility to use such a code during practice at school can help students to learn quickly gearboxes elements and configurations.</div></div>