VW was known to be working on a ten-speed dual-clutch gearbox (pictured), but apparently, the automaker is citing costs and stopping work on the project.
Australia’s Motoring quotes an unnamed source from inside the company as saying “it’s a very expensive development and it’s very complex. In the end, we had to balance what our priorities were with our transmissions and other things are more important and more urgent.”
VW says the transmission could have taken up to 550 Nm / ~400 lb-ft, while the report adds it could have been used on turbocharged downsized engines and would have even ended up in the production version of the Golf R400.
Other manufacturers have successfully released their high-gear-count transmissions, though. Fiat-Chrysler already sells nine-speed automatic gearboxes in its range, although that isn’t a dual-clutch.
GM, Ford and Hyundai are making dual clutches with many gears, though, and none of them has so far stopped development on cost grounds.
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