A gearshift assembly comprises a base and a shift lever having an overmoulded ball portion comprising a pattern of recesses having straight side walls. A socket is fixed in the base and shaped to receive the ball portion of the shift lever. The socket has a sidewall with an inner surface forming part of a sphere to provide a pivotal mounting for the ball portion for pivotal movement of the shift lever over a pivotal movement range. Vertical slots in the sidewall which have parallel vertical side edges that are open at their upper ends to allow a sidewall portion between adjacent vertical slots to elastically flex outwardly during insertion of the ball portion into the socket. The pattern of recesses of the ball portion is arranged such that all sidewalls are inclined with respect to side edges of the vertical slots over the pivotal movement range.

The present invention is directed to a gearshift assembly comprising base, a shift lever (1) having an overmoulded ball portion (10) which is received in a socket (20) fixed in the base, the socket having a sidewall with an inner surface forming part of a sphere to provide a pivotal mounting for the ball portion for pivotal movement of the shift lever over a pivotal movement range, the socket having vertical slots (22) in the sidewall which have parallel vertical side edges and which are open at their upper ends to allow a sidewall portion between adjacent vertical slots to elastically flex outwardly during insertion of the ball portion into the socket, the ball portion (10) comprising a pattern of recesses having straight side walls, characterized in that the pattern of recesses is arranged such that all sidewalls of the recesses (12, 14, 16, 18) are inclined with respect to side edges (24, 26) of the vertical slots (22) over the pivotal movement range of the shift lever (1).