18 includes a sun gear member 42 a ring gear member 44 and a carrier member 46 that rotatably supports a set of pinion gears 48 only one shown sun gear member 42 is connected for common rotation with first intermediate shaft 34 ring gear member 44 is connected for common rotation with a third intermediate shaft 50 carrier member 46 is connected for common rotation with an input shaft 12 pinion gears 48 are configured to intermesh with both sun gear member 42 and ring gear member 44 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention planetary gear set 20 is a simple planetary gear set that includes a sun gear member 52 a ring gear member 54 and a carrier member 56 that rotatably supports a set of pinion gears 58 only one shown sun gear member 52 is connected for common rotation with a third intermediate shaft 50 ring gear member 54 is connected for common rotation with fourth intermediate shaft 60 carrier member 56 is connected for common rotation with fifth intermediate shaft 62 pinion gears 58 are configured to intermesh with both sun gear member 52 and ring gear member 54 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention planetary gear set 22 is a simple planetary gear set that includes a sun gear member 72 a ring gear member 74 and a carrier member 76 that rotatably supports a set of pinion gears 78 only one shown sun gear member 72 is connected for common rotation with sixth intermediate shaft 64 and seventh intermediate shaft 66 ring gear member 74 is connected for common.