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Volvo unveils new twin clutch Powershift

Volvo Powershift

Volvo joins the ranks of car manufacturers with twin clutch gearboxes, made extremely popular by Volkswagen with their BorgWarner DSG. Volvo’s twin clutch transmission is a 6-speed unit called Powershift.

Powershift is a wet clutch gearbox, with one clutch for the odd gears and reverse gear, while the other clutch handles the even gears. Like other twin clutch systems, the next gear is preselected so upshifts can be done nearly instantly, giving a continuous flow of power without disruption because of gear changes.

The first production Volvo cars to be fitted with the Powershift transmission will be the 136hp, 320Nm 4-cylinder turbodiesel variants of the Volvo C30, S40 and V50.

19 Comments »

  1. PTAllTheBest said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 3:32 am

    copy or new design?

  2. Paul Tan said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 3:49 am

    how do you copy something as complicated as this?

  3. mdjqs said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 6:15 am

    you can copy something like this……just look at the japanese…one of the mercedes ceo was mentioning that the japanese are the fastest copycats…in fact at one point, the 1st top ten buyer of newly launch merc will be them….ntv7…..dwtv cant remember when!! :D

  4. _xXx_ said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 7:40 am

    Yeah, IAFM is VERY complicated too.

    Funny name given. I tought it’s a football club when someone told me

  5. mohdjiman said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 8:41 am

    maybe it will be a new trend for automotive industry… twin clutch gearboxes.

  6. AmSouth said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 9:07 am

    Volvo Twin Clutch? ….. ehh copy dari Mitsubishi Evolution X keh?

  7. chap_de_x said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 9:18 am

    to invent or making something new is difficult but to make a reverse eng or add more value to something is not that difficult….jap is one good example in inventing new things and doing reverse eng…but sometimes nowdays i felt their becoming too cocky about their product…example Sony product…we know their product is good but they use it to us as consumer to buy weird support system for their product that only can be use in their product…plus some of their design is outdated…sometime korean design is more good then jap…just my honest opinion peace

  8. drebar said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 9:20 am

    yes, the jap is the greatest copier in the world. that’s why they are so far ahead of everyone in such a short period of time.

    merc came up with a new powerful engine. the jap will buy the car, rip it up, look into it and make a better one!

    the chinese (china) must be the worse copier of all time. hahaha.. :P

  9. Alifz said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 10:34 am

    Hmm….

    Version of bigger and complicated gearbox of Kapchai motor, using wet clutch..

    I’m wondering how is the power losess using this clutch system…

  10. altimi said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 11:38 am

    Mitsubishi and NIssan got this gb already, any news on Toyota/HOnda Dual Clutch GB?

  11. BanyakMasukWorkshop said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 5:08 pm

    you guys make it sound so easy.
    no one can just copy a gearbox. its probably the most complicated component in the entire car. even if you copied it, it would be a major undertaking to get the engineering precision correct and up to the spec. required of a gearbox.

    which explains why so many of the top manufacturers like VW and BMW dont even bother to make their own. they just work with a gearbox partner.

  12. Paul Tan said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 5:21 pm

    Honda had some attempt at an automated single clutch gearbox called i-Shift on the Euro Civic but got really bad reviews

  13. szw said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 8:50 pm

    another twin clutch ?

  14. nmh said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 10:58 pm

    Hope proton consider this to replace AT for campro

  15. PTAllTheBest said,

    January 16, 2008 @ 11:10 pm

    nmh said,
    January 16, 2008 @ 10:58 pm

    Hope proton consider this to replace AT for campro
    -
    i think u need to wait another 50 yrs

  16. BanyakMasukWorkshop said,

    January 17, 2008 @ 1:21 am

    PTAllTheBest said,
    January 16, 2008 @ 11:10 pm

    nmh said,
    January 16, 2008 @ 10:58 pm

    Hope proton consider this to replace AT for campro
    -
    i think u need to wait another 50 yrs

    >>> its not about years.. if proton were to buy an extremely expensive twin-clutch gearbox from say borgwarner tommorow, and put it into their gen.2 or something. the gen2 would probably have to cost over RM80-90k.. would you pay for it? the answer is most likely “no”. so it makes no business sense to put this gearbox into a proton right?

  17. mystvearn said,

    January 17, 2008 @ 1:56 am

    when this is the norm, people would want normal gears back…

  18. MaverickNeo said,

    January 17, 2008 @ 10:51 am

    just add another clutch pedal la…then u have manual twin clutch tranny lo…although u need 3 legs to drive it…heh…

  19. lamcy88 said,

    January 17, 2008 @ 3:26 pm

    Its about time Volvo staged a comeback!!!

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