| Chrysler’s plans to improve
its vehicles’ fuel economy are taking shape. The struggling OEM
will introduce a dual-clutch transmission (DCT), four-cylinder diesel
and a V6 gasoline with cylinder deactivation.
Producing more fuel-efficient vehicles is an important part of Chrysler’s
plans to improve its finances. Its current dependence on large displacement
trucks and SUVs has hit its sales hard.
Product development chief Frank Klegon said: “Many of these fuel-efficiency
initiatives will be incorporated simultaneously into a single vehicle
family – the V6 with cylinder deactivation mated to a dual clutch
gearbox would result in double-digit fuel economy gains.”
Chrysler is partnering with transmissions firm Getrag to manufacture 700,000
wet-clutch DCTs a year in the US. Production at the new $530 million,
75,000 sq m factory will start in 2009. Getrag will have operational responsibility
for the Tipton County, Indiana factory.
Chrysler’s powertrain manufacturing vice-president Richard Chow-Wah
said: “The facility reaffirms our commitment to producing vehicles
that meet our consumers’ demands for more economical vehicles.”
Plans for the four-cylinder diesel are at an early stage, but are likely
to play a part in the OEM’s preparations for tighter US emissions
standards in 2010. A new family of V6s will use cylinder deactivation,
a lightweight block and variable valve timing to improve fuel economy
by up to eight per cent.
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