Porsche preps seven-cog, dual-clutch robot box
Newswheel staff :: 26 July 2006 :: Filed under Porsche, Europe & UK, US
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DSG with everything
Long a rumour, now a fact. Patent documents filed in Germany indicate that Porsche is tooling up to bolt a seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual gearbox to just about ever car in its current range, from the entry-level Boxster to the upcoming Carrera GT-based GT1 hypercar…
Or at least, that’s what US car rag Autoweek reckons. It is, of course, Porsche’s ever more closely related big brother, VW, who pioneered the use of dual-clutch robot gearboxes with the DSG unit fitted to the original Audi TT. More recently, VW’s product supremo Wolfgang Bernhard announced that dual-clutch boxes would replace conventional torque-converter automatic gearboxes on all VW group cars with transverse engine installations within five years. Autoweek does not shed any light on when the first dual-clutch Porker might appear, other than to claim that the new 997 Turbo was originally slated to offer the box at launch.
For now, it’s also not clear how much Porsche’s dual-clutch box owes to VW’s unit. Bernhard has gone on the record to say VW will not be licensing DSG-type cog-shifters to competitors. But given Porsche’s recent efforts to entwine its financial fortunes with VW (not to mention existing joint ventures including the Toureg/Cayenne SUV and the Panamera four-door supercoupe project), suffice to say that a modicum of technology sharing in this area makes an awful lot of sense.
Linkage:
Autoweek on Porsche’s DSG plans
DSG to replace slushboxes (internal)
Porsche to up ownership stake in VW (internal)
Posted 14 January 2007, by gjhgjhg
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