[volkman10]

Maruti Suzuki is riding high on its AMT variants. With more to come in the AMT fold, it will treble the production capacity of AMT.

http://www.thehindu.com/business/Ind...cle7554439.ece

[sumeethaldankar]

Is it by any chance possible to retrofit AMT on older cars ?

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Is it by any chance possible to retrofit AMT on older cars ?

Can you change a manual car by automatic, by retrofitting a relevant CVT, DSG or torque converter?
Technically it is possible, but I don't think any FNG would accept and do it because it is a laborious, and an expensive task. At the end, the output we get by such a modification may not be good also.
I am also doubtful whether you would be able to get hold of an AMT gearbox, because the OEMs themselves are finding difficult to get hold of enough AMT boxes to churn out the automatics to meet their demand, due to the capacity issues at Magneti Marelli.
And last point, AMT is the cheapest and crudest type of automatic, and you would not want to take the pains to replace your gearbox with AMT.
These days getting an automatic is not very difficult, as each manufacturer has come up with their own versions of automatic for each car!

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Can you change a manual car by automatic, by retrofitting a relevant CVT, DSG or torque converter?
Technically it is possible, but I don't think any FNG would accept and do it because it is a laborious, and an expensive task. At the end, the output we get by such a modification may not be good also.
I am also doubtful whether you would be able to get hold of an AMT gearbox, because the OEMs themselves are finding difficult to get hold of enough AMT boxes to churn out the automatics to meet their demand, due to the capacity issues at Magneti Marelli.
And last point, AMT is the cheapest and crudest type of automatic, and you would not want to take the pains to replace your gearbox with AMT.
These days getting an automatic is not very difficult, as each manufacturer has come up with their own versions of automatic for each car!

Oh, I didn't realize the AMT transmission box is different from a manual transmission box. I read somewhere the AMT is actually a manual transmission with a automatic clutch or something.

[Vigkey]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Oh, I didn't realize the AMT transmission box is different from a manual transmission box. I read somewhere the AMT is actually a manual transmission with a automatic clutch or something.

Based on my understanding, what you tell is correct. AMT has the same clutch and gearbox as the manual one.

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Can you change a manual car by automatic, by retrofitting a relevant CVT, DSG or torque converter?

Technically it is possible, but I don't think any FNG would accept and do it because it is a laborious, and an expensive task. At the end, the output we get by such a modification may not be good also.

Isn't that the basic difference between CVT / DSG / TC and AMT? CVT, DSG, TC cannot be retrofitted to a manual car simply because the whole clutch, gearbox and transmission mechanism is different. However with AMT, the clutch and gearbox is the same as in the manual car. Only that the AMT module will operate the clutch and gearbox based on some logic and code - pure mechatronics operation compared to manual operation. So, technically retrofitting an AMT module should be much easier than any other auto option.

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

I am also doubtful whether you would be able to get hold of an AMT gearbox, because the OEMs themselves are finding difficult to get hold of enough AMT boxes to churn out the automatics to meet their demand, due to the capacity issues at Magneti Marelli.

In fact, there are AMT products that can be retrofitted in buses and trucks. WABCO OptiDrive AMT is one. I am not sure if it is already in production or in trial mode. But the possibility of retro-fit in cars in the near future cannot be ruled out. The reaction of car manufacturers, dealers and implications on insurance and warranty is another discussion altogether. I am sure they will NEVER favor such non-OEM retro-fit components to operate the clutch and gearbox.

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

I read somewhere the AMT is actually a manual transmission with a automatic clutch or something.

Yep, it is Automated Manual Transmission. Meaning, the same activities that you manually do - depress clutch, change gear all would be done, but done automatically. It looks like traditional automatic car, with just a gearbox for Parking, Drive, Reverse gears (and no clutch pedal of course).
The performance is very similar to what a manual will do. You can even feel a slight slow down when the gear is changing.
This is different from other types such as dual clutch (DSG), because, in such types, you can just press the accelerator, and the needle would go from 0-100kmph in x seconds, without really noticing any gear change happening.

Regarding your point about automatic clutch, there are other types which exists only in concept, where only clutch is automated (and clutch pedal removed), but there will be usual 1,2,3,4,5 gears. These have never made it to mass market as they do not really solve the problems faced by manual transmission car drivers.

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by Vigkey

In fact, there are AMT products that can be retrofitted in buses and trucks. WABCO OptiDrive AMT is one. I am not sure if it is already in production or in trial mode. But the possibility of retro-fit in cars in the near future cannot be ruled out.

Thanks! This is new to me. I quickly looked up WABCO OptiDrive. They have been supplying AMT boxes to Europe for several years and recently got some success with buses and trucks, on a trial mode in India.
Then is it licensing issues, that Tata & Maruti are queuing at Magneti Marelli?

[volkman10]

Maruti Suzuki sells over 50,000 AMT vehicles, more models to come with ASG .

Reinforcing the success of Auto Gear Shift technology, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) today announced that sales of its vehicles equipped with AGS have crossed 50,000 units.

Currently, AGS variants account for 25 percent of sales of Celerio and Alto K10 put together. AGS vehicles are popular across the country especially in in markets like Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi.

http://www.shifting-gears.com/2015/0...-amt-vehicles/

[audioholic]

This clearly shows that if the market is to be shown new tech, then its MSIL who can achieve that feat. Now the market is more optimistic towards automatics and be it the AMT or any other technology, we can see that there is greater scope for them. Even till now, the AMT versions of Celerio doesnt have any offers running on it. I was surprised when I heard this a few days back.

I wanted to test how this AMT behaves in crawling traffic but till date they havent got back to me and only assure me that they would get the car to my office. Looking forward to an automatic car soon so the Celerio is on the list. Only thing now is that the Figo looks very very attractive so I just want to have one comparison between the two cars to see which one drives better in crawling traffic.

[iamahunter]

Drove the Celerio AMT last week.
There is a noticable time in the gear changes.
Almost felt like someone else changing the gear manually for me.
And AMT is exactly that, the computer changing the gear for me.

Now the question, why does it take that time to change gear?
Answer is simple, the computer is "just" changing the gear for you,
the gearbox and the clutch is still manual.

Overall, "I" was quite happy with the car.
"I" in here refers a mango man driving to office at peak hours.

The enthusiast in me says : What the heck is this thing, you can change gears faster than this.
Yuck! get out man..! Never ever even think of get this thing.

No offence to the owners, "I" thinks that its a beautiful car.

[tjacob]

No time frame has been given by the top official for the launch of new automatic variants.Convinced that Indian customers are now ready to embrace clutchless driving, Maruti Suzuki is planning to offer automatic technology in each and every segment it’s present in. Depending on the price segment, the automaker would be introducing AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) or AT variants to models that don’t have them already.

As of now, Alto K10, Celerio (both AMTs), Ritz, Swift Dzire, WagonR, Baleno and Ciaz have automatic variants. The popular Swift, Ertiga and S-Cross are the ones which are devoid of the technology. Talking to Financial Express, C.V. Raman, executive director, engineering at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., said that work is underway to make sure that ‘two-pedal’ technology is available in every segment the company currently operates so that customers have a choice. He also added that efforts are on to make the technology affordable.

Maruti’s AMT supplier Magneti Marelli has recently inaugurated its manufacturing facility at Manesar, ending the shortage of supply. This means, Maruti can now equip more of budget hatchbacks with the 5-speed AMT gearbox. The existing 4-speed conventional AT could be of service for both Swift and Ertiga while the premium S-Cross is likely to receive the same CVT unit that is available in the Euro-spec model.
An automatic Swift could emerge as just what the urban customers have been looking for.

Source - Rushlane

Image Source

Note: The images are of the Swift Sport CVT sold in Malaysia, not any kind AMT version sold in India, I put up the images just for representation purposes.

[mayank0782]

I feel swift deserves a 5 speed AT.

AMT wont do justice to the kind of product swift is.

That said I do see the Indian market moving more towards the automatics rapidly.

Although a long way to go but a very good start nevertheless.

[aerohit]

For S-Cross, CVT is only available in petrol in other markets.

For diesel, they have TCSS.

Not sure what Maruti head of engineering was referring to.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by aerohit

Not sure what Maruti head of engineering was referring to.

Nothing specific was mentioned on the S Cross - this is what the article says

work is underway to make sure that ‘two-pedal’ technology is available in every segment the company currently operates so that customers have a choice.

So they could bring the TCSS eventually, but maybe not on S Cross but in the New Vitara.

[ikoneer]

The new ERTIGA already has an AT right, so why is it mentioned here again? Do they mean AMT for diesel ERTIGA ?