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.

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • PTAllTheBest (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 3:32 am

    copy or new design?

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  • Paul Tan on Jan 16, 2008 at 3:49 am

    how do you copy something as complicated as this?

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  • mdjqs (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 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

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  • _xXx_ (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 7:40 am

    Yeah, IAFM is VERY complicated too.

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

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  • mohdjiman (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 8:41 am

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

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  • AmSouth (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 9:07 am

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

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • chap_de_x (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 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

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  • drebar (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 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

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  • Alifz (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 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…

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  • altimi (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 11:38 am

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

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  • BanyakMasukWorkshop (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 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.

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  • Paul Tan on Jan 16, 2008 at 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

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  • szw (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 8:50 pm

    another twin clutch ?

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  • nmh (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    Hope proton consider this to replace AT for campro

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  • PTAllTheBest (Member) on Jan 16, 2008 at 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

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  • BanyakMasukWorkshop (Member) on Jan 17, 2008 at 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?

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  • mystvearn (Member) on Jan 17, 2008 at 1:56 am

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

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  • MaverickNeo (Member) on Jan 17, 2008 at 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…

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  • lamcy88 (Member) on Jan 17, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    Its about time Volvo staged a comeback!!!

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  • Jason Lou on Oct 15, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    Getting confused, it's called the S40 2.0 Powershift – no news on the volvocars.com.my site yet, but is this 2.0 petrol, diesel or doesn't represent the cc at all?

    Btw, C30, S40 & V50 has a diesel variant? All with the Powershift transmission they'll be launching diesel variants of these cars in MY?

    Appreciate the feedback.

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