Fiat Group Automobiles has announced that they will unveil its first dual-clutch gearbox in September 2009. The gearbox will be designed and built by Fiat Powertrain Technologies at an investment of 500 million euros. The new gearbox called the DDC will be able to handle up to 343Nm of torque. The dual clutch transmission is one of three transmission variants in the C635 family. The other two will be a manual and a single clutch automated manual.
The new dual clutch Fiat Powertrain Technologies C635 gearbox will use two dry clutches (DDC means Dual Dry Clutch) which are lighter and require less cooling than wet clutches, but there is no indication at the moment how many speeds the gearbox would have, though 6-speed is the most likely since the C635 family will feature a manual as well, and I don’t think a 7-speed manual is very common,
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On what car does Fiat plans to introduce it? Some hothatch?
Maybe Alfa Romeo kot……? I think it’s wise for Japanese manufacturer to follow this trend, imagine a 2 litre Civic with DSG-like tranny. It’ll be damn good….
Not quite sure where these auto-clutch gearboxes will go.
It not as smooth as a proper auto or CVT, not as engaging to drive as a manual (some of these auto-clutches can be annoyingly notorious on low speed maneuvers – parking for instance).
The Japanese seems to be going the CVT route, spearheaded by Nissan. Allmost all the main japanese marques (save for toyota?) have CVTs in thier product range.
it’s like a trend nowadays…every manufacturer try to invent dual-clutch system. After this? one clutch for every gear?
Dual clutch is the route to go. It is far more superior then CVT and torque convertors. It is a true manual yet very capable auto. It also provide better performace and better fuel economy, less transmission power losses then conventional auto and CVT. I dont think dual clutch auto is annoying during parking, but i can tell you CVT is helluva annoying with its slow delivery of power and unnatural feel during driving.
CVT is okay but it can’t handle the huge torque generated by large turbocharged engine….
another dual clutch tranny…
I think Fiat will use this new gearbox in new Bravo.Right now they use Dualogic gearbox which is extrmely successfull but with this new gearbox Fiat will open a new window in automatic car industry.
That’s could be good, but I submitted a new design to WIPO PCT , in their test it has the novelty inventive step and industrial applicability in 9 claims , more than 10 ratios, low pollution, low noise, low fuel, could be automatic or manual, looking for gearbox manufacture
best regards