Dodge will join a select group of car-makers when it introduces a new dual-clutch automatic transmission on its Territory-size Journey, which is due to be launched in Australia in September.

The new auto-mode transmission has been developed as a collaborative effort between Chrysler and German transmission maker Getrag, and will be built in two new plants; one in the USA and the other in Mexico.

Chrysler says the new transmission will be fitted to the Australia-bound Journey and will provide benefits including improved fuel economy, lower CO2 emissions, quicker acceleration and a smoothness of operation not found in single-clutch sequential-manual transmissions.

Like the dual-clutch transmissions already used by Audi/VW, BMW and, soon, Porsche, the Chrysler gearbox uses multi-plate clutches that control separate sets of pre-engaged gears -- one the odd numbers as well as reverse, the other actuating the even numbers -- so that changing ratios is a matter of the system activating an already-selected gear.

Without the torque converter slippage that is a characteristic of planetary-gear (epicyclic) automatics, the efficiency of the dual-clutch system is equal to a manual transmission, explaining why such transmissions in VWs and Audis actually quote improved acceleration times over regular manuals and, often, improved fuel economy figures.

Chrysler says its system offers a six per cent improvement in both fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

The dual-clutch transmission will be available on turbodiesel variants of the new Journey.

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