Hyundai's double clutch punch

The small and mid size car market is about to get another Korean-led shake up with Hyundai announcing its plans to introduce a six-speed dual clutch transmission by Q2 next year.

Hyundai's president of research and development Dr Woong-chul Yang made the announcement this week, telling the Carsales Network the internally developed unit is capable of moderate torque loads, making it suitable for applications in small and medium cars.

The DSG transmission will likely be available behind Hyundai's Gamma (1.6) and Theta (2.0) petrol engines, with small capacity diesel units also under consideration. A seven-speed unit is also said to be under development, possibly matched to even smaller engines, such as the recently announced Kappa 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol.

The announcement has lead to conjecture that i30 will soon be offered with a DSG transmission. Hyundai Australia's director of marketing Oliver Mann confirmed the model will not receive the new six-speed automatic transmission as found in the Kia Cerato hatch. With a model revision due within the projected timeframe, it's highly likely we'll see a DSG equipped i30 before the middle of next year.

As Hyundai continues its push to deliver increasingly better technology at a very competitive price, drivetrain components have been a strong focus for the team at the Nanyang R&D centre. The team also announcing a new eight-speed automatic transmission developed in conjunction with German firm LUK.

The new eight-speed unit will be mated to the Tau V8 4.6 and 5.0 litre engines by the middle of 2011.

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