Kia planning downsized turbo engines and dual-clutch transmissions for Europe
The next generation of Kia vehicles for mainstream passengers in Europe will be featuring turbocharged engines and dual-clutch transmissions so as to fall in line with the offerings of its European rivals.
The powertrain manager of the Hyundai Motor Europe Technica Centre confirmed downsized turbo petrol engines were a major focus of the current work of his team, which is developing powertrains for both Kia and Hyundai.
Kia unveiled their turbocharged 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine during last year’s Geneva motor show, and this year it debuted a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission (DCT) that is expected to appear in production cars in 2015.
Ford and Volkswagen are two of the major carmakers who are downsizing engines and applying turbochargers and DCTs in order to enhance the performance and fuel efficiency of their vehicles.
Winkler also explained that an upper torque limit allows for Kia’s seven-speed DCT to be well-suited for petrol and diesel engines up to a capacity of two litres.
It is thought that the new transmission will be compact and versatile enough to fit in almost all vehicle sizes, including the Rio city car.
According to Winkler, he stated that his team was aware of the criticism of the low-speed performance of the DCTs offered by some of its rivals, and continued to say that Kia’s system will not be plagued by those similar issues.
Winkler has also said that Kia is looked into several technologies including twin-turbocharging, supercharging and twin-charging – this combines turbocharging and supercharging, but the team has found that the single-turbo system is the best balance in terms of costs, performance and efficiency.
It is expected that future models will be incorporating the brand’s new mild hybrid system – made up of a lead-carbon battery, a small electric motor, and in some cases an electric supercharger to both cut fuel consumption and emissions while at the same time boosting power and torque outputs.
Winkler added that his team is also looking into altering the copression rations of their engines, as a result of Mazda’s success in this area with their new Skyactiv petrol and diesel powerplants.
