Abstract
KEYWORDS – Entry level vehicle, automatic transmission, low cost concept, high carry-over content, future features protected
ABSTRACT – The A-segment, which is a segment of small vehicles worldwide, is very versatile. Vehicles such as the Opel Karl, the Fiat 500, the Smart fortwo and forfour or the Volkswagen Up! belong to this class. In India, the recently introduced Maruti Suzuki Celerio is another example for a very successful A-class vehicle. It features an automated manual transmission.
This publication describes global trends for this vehicle class conventional powertrains and further-on the corresponding prerequisites are discussed. As a conclusion, a prac-tical proposal for a compact automatic transmission is introduced that is specifically designed for these vehicles.