Dual-clutch auto for Kia

Kia has confirmed it will follow in the footsteps of sister brand Hyundai and almost all European car-makers by revealing it will  join the flappy-paddle ranks in 2014.

The Korean brand's European head of drivetrain engineering, Dr Joachim Hahn, confirmed the addition of a dual-clutch automated manual transmission (DCT) to the marque's armoury at yesterday's opening of the Genava motor show.

Kia used the Swiss event to launch its first hot hatch models, the cee'd GT five-door and the sharply styled three-door pro_cee'd GT. The latter has been confirmed for Australia and is tipped to arrive in 2014. For the time being, both are available only as six-speed manuals.

That's likely to change next year, however. Indeed, Kia previewed a new seven-speed DCT matched to its 1.6 T-GDI Gamma family engine in its Geneva showcar, the B-segment based provo. Both the cee'd GT and pro_cee'd are powered by the same 150kW turbo four.

Whichever models it makes the new seven-speed DCT available in, Kia will go one better than Hyundai given the larger Korean brand released its first DCT – a six-speed unit – in the Veloster coupe here a year ago.

"Next year will be the first application [of the new DCT]," Dr Hahn told motoring.com.au.

"I will not confirm the model but for sure it suits cars like our GT models," he said.

According to Dr Hahn, Kia will continue to offer both DCT and conventional (torque converter) automatics for its model range. The delineation could even be along geographical lines, he admitted.

"DCT is favoured clearly because of its efficiency benefits... [But] there are challenges with DCT transmissions – smooth take-off for example," he stated.

According to Dr Hahn, European customers who favour the added fuel efficiency of the automated manuals are "maybe not so sensitive to the comfort [trade offs]".

Markets like the USA, on the other hand, wanted the smoother step-off performance of a conventional auto, he suggested.

Dr Hahn also stated that statutory European fuel and emission testing regimes favoured DCTs over pure manuals. Thus manufacturers with DCTs can program their cars' gearboxes to deliver better on-paper results than manuals.

The Kia powertrain development boss said he expected both DCT and conventional automatic transmissions to add more ratios in years to come.

"The latest studies tend to show that nine speeds is the optimum... But this depends on the boundaries of your vehicles," he said.

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