In an awe inspiring reflection of how popular Volkswagen’s award winning dual clutch gearbox has been, Volkswagen has just sold it’s three and a half millionth DSG Gearbox worldwide. DSG, is an acronym for Direct Shift Gearbox, with Volkswagen being the very first manufacturer to introduce the dual clutch system in a car gearbox which made gear shift times quicker, to suit today’s high performance car just fine.
The Direct-Shift Gearbox commonly abbreviated to DSG is an electronically controlled dual clutch multiple-shaft manual gearbox, in a transaxle design - without a conventional clutch pedal,and with full automatic, or semi-manual control. The first actual Dual Clutch transmissions derived from Porsche in-house development for 962 racing cars in the 80's.
In simple terms, it is two separate manual gearboxes (and clutches), contained within one housing, and working as one unit. It was designed by BorgWarner,and was initially licensed to the German automotive industry concern Volkswagen Group (which includes the Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, Škoda, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles automotive marques), with support by IAV GmbH.By using two independent clutches,a DSG can achieve faster shift times,and eliminates the torque converter of a conventional epicyclic automatic transmission.
Now, what exactly do the two clutches in the DSG gearbox do? The two clutches let two gears to be selected at a single shot so that when the transmission shifts, it needs only open one clutch and the other clutch can remain closed, thus saving time. Quicker shifts means more rapid acceleration and also a less jerky movement during gear shifting.
Also, since Dual Clutch gearboxes are lighter than conventional automatic gearboxes, they are inherently more efficient, thus delivering fuel savings. In India, models such as the Skoda Laura, Skoda Superb, the Audi A4, the 2011 Volkswagen Passat are a few models where Volkswagen’s DSG gearbox is being used currently. In due course of time, smaller Volkswagen group cars in India like the Volkswagen Polo and the Skoda Fabia may also get the DSG gearbox.
