The German automotive giant, Volkswagen has confirmed that its idea of launching much-discussed 10-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission has been dead.
While speaking to the Automotive News at International Vienna Motor Symposium in April this year, VW powertrain Chief, Friedrich Eichler confirmed that the 10-speed gearbox idea had been dropped.
He said, “Two months ago, I had the prototype crushed.”
If we put all things aside for a sec, you will notice that there are two things which are rapidly evolving in this Automotive world, one is the size of the cars and the other is the number of gears in their transmission. What is the number of gears in your car? I assume the number would be under or equal to six. In case, if you drive a luxury or some kind of sports beast, the number can exceed maximum to nine.
Frankly speaking, I’ve never heard of or imagined a 10-speed gear set up for a car to deliver the power outputs to the wheels, before Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn revealed its plan the in the same year that its rivals, General Motors and Ford Motors announced their partnership to co-develop 9- and 10-Speed transmission setup at 2013’s International Vienna Motor Symposium. While the GM and Ford developed 9-speed was introduced last year in the new Chevrolet Malibu, the 10-speed transmission was first fitted under the floor of the Camaro ZL1 and Ford F-150 Raptor.
At that time, Volkswagen CEO applauded, saying, “the extremely wide gear-ratio spread, the reduced rpm range and other improvements with regards to the gear-tooth system and friction”.
According to VW Powertrain Chief, Eichler, the 10-Speed transmission was aimed at carmaker’s “more” and “bigger is better” engineering approach. But as the big transmission plan has been killed off, Eichler has a full proof plan of returning back on someday. "Of course, I saved all the data," he said with a wink.
Get latest and updated information about automobiles on our Google Plus Community SAG Mart.