Fiat Powertrain’s new six-speed, dual-clutch gearbox will be offered on the new Dodge Dart in North America, the group’s transmissions chief, Constantinos Vafidis, has told Autocar.
Mated to Fiat’s 1.4-litre MultiAir engine, it offers 40mpg plus on the US cycle (the equivalent of 48mpg in Europe). This means that this is the engine/gearbox combination that allowed Fiat to increase its stake in Chrysler to 58.5 per cent recently.
The firm was allowed to purchase the extra Chrysler stake after it delivered on a promise to build a compact car in the US with 40mpg-plus economy.
Vafidis said the new gearbox could be mated to 80 per cent of Fiat’s current engines, and there was a possibility that the technology could be sold to other manufacturers once it’s established in Fiat products. It has first appeared on the Alfa Romeo Mito and Giulietta models.
