Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn today announced at the Vienna motor symposium that his brand will produce a 10-speed dual-clutch automatic and a new high-performance diesel engine. In a speech in front of hundreds of engineers in Vienna’s Hofburg Palace, Winterkorn spoke of “the extremely wide gear-ratio spread, the reduced rpm range, and other improvements with regards to the gear-tooth system and friction.” The gear-ration spread exceeds 10:1—for reference, the six-speed DSG found in today’s GTI has a ratio spread of less than 5:1 and the brand’s seven-speed dual-clutch unit has a spread of 7.8:1—and the transmission is suitable for a torque range of more than 369 lb-ft.
The 10-speed DCT catapults Volkswagen to the head of the gears-available class. No other dual-clutch transmission with 10 cogs has been announced so far. ZF is working on a nine-speed torque-converter automatic, which will feature a gear-ratio spread of 9.84:1, and Hyundai will offer a 10-speed torque-converter automatic in the next-generation Genesis.
Winterkorn also announced that Volkswagen’s upcoming high-performance diesel is capable of producing 134 horsepower per liter of displacement. The engine is fitted with an optimized variable valvetrain, a high-pressure fuel-injection system that operates at extremely high pressures ranging from 2500 to 3000 bar, and a combination of a turbocharged and an electric supercharger VW is referring to as eBooster.
Further details about either the new 10-speed auto or the high-performance diesel aren’t available as yet, but we’ll pass along any further details from the symposium in Vienna as we gather them.
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