Shifter assembly

A shifter assembly for selecting gear positions of a transmission for a vehicle, said shifter assembly comprising:

• a housing having an exterior surface and an opposite interior surface;
• a shaft extending between a first end and a second end spaced from said first end with said second end of said shaft movable within said housing and with said shaft defining a longitudinal axis between said first and second ends,
• a knob mounted to said first end of said shaft and disposed adjacent said exterior surface of said housing for moving said shaft within said housing, and
• a selector plate mounted to said second end of said shaft with said selector plate movable as a unit with said shaft;
• and
• a guide plate coupled to said housing and defining a first path and a second path spaced from said first path with a portion of said selector plate movable through said first path during an automatic mode for facilitating automatic selection of the gear positions within the transmission and said selector plate being rotatable about said longitudinal axis into a manual mode with said portion of said selector plate movable through said second path in said manual mode for permitting manual selection of the gear positions within the transmission.