First Ford, now Volvo

The new Volvo automatic Powershift transmission will be available to order from late February on the 136PS two-litre turbodiesel versions of the Volvo C30, S40 and V50 with a recommended retail price of £1,250.

This new Powershift six-speed unit features twin wet clutches to provide the gear changing comfort of a fully-automatic transmission with the performance of a manual gearbox.

Operating as two parallel manual gearboxes, Powershift has twin wet clutches that work independently of one another. One clutch controls the odd gears (1, 3, 5 and reverse) while the other handles the even ratios (2, 4 and 6). The two clutches operate alternately with one engaging while the other disengages, like a slip clutch.

This results in rapid yet smooth gear changes whilst maintaining constant power delivery allowing 0-60mph to be reached in nine seconds in the Volvo C30, 9.1 seconds in the S40 and 9.2 seconds in the V50 and boasts a top speed of 127mph in all three models.

Apart from gear changing comfort and high performance, Powershift also contributes to delivering improved fuel efficiency. The Powershift Automatic offers an impressive combined fuel consumption of 47.1mpg and a CO2 figure of 159g/km in both the Volvo S40 and V50; while it brings the Volvo C30 47.9mpg on a combined cycle and a CO2 figure of 156g/km.

"Lower fuel consumption allied to increased comfort and higher performance sounds like an impossible equation. But with Powershift we have shown this is perfectly possible," says Magnus Jonsson, Senior Vice President, Research & Development, Volvo Cars.

[IMG]http://www.oneshift.com/showroom/uploadimages/resized-20080112111039545.jpg[/IMG]

Credits: Jarvis