Volkswagen halts development of its 10-speed DSG gearbox

Volkswagen has halted, at least temporarily, the development of a new automated gearbox with which it intended to break new ground.

The pause has been reported by several sources close to the brand, leaving the development of the 10-speed DSG gearbox on hold.

The German giant is having a rather turbulent late summer after the “problem” with polluting emissions and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has crossed the Atlantic and reached our shores. Now the pause in the development of this new DSG transmission adds to its woes.

It was in Vienna, in 2013, during the Vienna Motor Symposium, that the people at Volkswagen announced the start of development of a new 10-speed gearbox that would fall within the DSG family, that is, within the automated manual transmissions with dual-clutch.

It seems, however, that during an intermediate phase of development, economic needs have come into play, prompting the brand to halt -for the time being- investment in this project. In the words of the people at VW, immediate needs mean that for now they must focus on other, more urgent and in-demand goals.

In this way, Volkswagen joins the list of manufacturers that, for the moment, have decided not to bet on gearboxes with so many ratios. BMW is also an example of another brand that has already announced it will not invest in gearboxes with so many gears, since it seems eight speeds is the perfect compromise.

However, GM is pressing ahead with the development of its 10-speed gearbox, which should see the light of day in about two years. Mercedes-Benz also has in its lineup -in fact it already sells it- a 9-speed automatic gearbox, called 9G-Tronic, which arrived as a natural evolution of the well-known 7G-Tronic.

Source | motoring.au