Maserati plans entry-level model

Brava wrote:

AFAIK the first patent was granted to a Frenchman by the name of Kégresse in the thirties. A very crude version was used in some agricultural tractors. After that, the idea was taken up by Porsche under their head of development, Ferdinand Piëch. What was by then called PDK, or Porsche DoppelKupplungsgetriebe, was raced a few times in endurance in a Porsche 962. As Piëch by then had moved on to Audi and masterminded the Quattro programme, the gearbox was also used in Audi Quattro rally cars. The rest is history, as they say.

So, tell me about the Borg Warner angle.

Well, I didn't know that. All I know is that the first twin-clutch gearbox to make it into a car is a Borg Warner unit, as put in the Mk4 Golf. Porsche didn't put their PDK gearbox into a production car until much later (was it 2008? My memory fails me).

Brava wrote:

Rover P6 3500S wrote:

CVT was more or less invented by Leonardo da Vinci, who, the last time I checked, was Italian, not British.

The current CVT was invented by Van Doorne of DAF fame. They are still the patent holders, licensing the technology to car makers.

Indeed it was, but that was merely a development refinement of an earlier concept, which can trace its origins all the way back to something that is very recognisably CVT which da Vinci invented. Of course, any of da Vinci's patents would have expired before DAF came into existence... =P