At the International Motor Symposium in Vienna, Volkswagen AG Chairman Martin Winterkorn gave a forecast of the group’s future drive system technologies.
With Hyundai already announcing it will offer a 10-speed transmission from 2014 and Ford and GM jointly developing 9- and 10-speed autos, Volkswagen’s boss admitted the carmaker is also focusing on the development of a new 10-speed dual clutch gearbox (DSG / S tronic) that will help reduce fuel consumption. In addition, he said a high-performance diesel engine delivering 100 kW (134 hp) per liter of displacement is also in the pipeline.
While he offered no details about the 10-speed DSG, Winterkorn said VW’s future high-performance diesels will have a variable valve-train assembly, a high-pressure injection system at up to 3,000 bar and combined charging with the innovative e-booster.
In his presentation, Winterkorn also mentioned plug-in hybrids, which he believes are offering great potential among alternative drive systems. The VW CEO stressed that over the medium and long-term different drive system technologies would exist side by side. These would range from highly efficient internal combustion engines and natural gas systems all the way to hybrids and electric vehicles.
Alternative technologies will help VW Group achieve its declared objective of lowering the European new car fleet’s CO2 emission level to 95 g of CO2/km by 2020. Nevertheless, despite the development of hybrids and EVs, the executive believes that internal combustion engines still offer a lot of potential.
“Since the year 2000, we’ve reduced the fuel consumption of our TDI and TSI engines by more than 30 percent. I’m convinced that by 2020 we can achieve further increases in efficiency of around 15 percent,” Winterkorn said.
These gains will be possible through the enhancement of the combustion process, intelligent lightweight design, innovative operating strategies and optimisation of friction levels and thermal management.
By Dan Mihalascu
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