TURIN – Fiat Group Automobiles will offer its first dual-clutch gearbox in September 2009, the company announced today.
The new gearbox is one of the three variants of the C635, a new family of 6-speed gearboxes able to absorb up to 35kgm of torque.
The C635 will debut as a manual in June 2009, followed in September by the dual clutch and by an automated manual transmission (AMT) in 2010.
Fiat Powertrain Technologies will invest 500 million euros on the C615 development and tooling.
The new gearbox will be built in Fiat Powertrain Technology's plant of Verrone, near Biella, 75km northeast of Turin.
The C635 family will reach full capacity of 800,000 units a year by 2010, adding about 600 jobs to Verrone's current staff of 500 people.
Small cars such the Fiat Grande Punto and lower-medium models such as the Fiat Bravo, as well as similar sized models from Alfa Romeo and Lancia, will use the C635.
