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Swedish automaker Volvo has done it again. Volvo has pioneered another revolutionary technology that would serve to provide comfort for drivers and better fuel economy for its vehicles. This revolutionary Volvo technology is its newly-developed Volvo Powershift transmission which will be available from February on the 136 PS 2.0-liter turbodiesel versions of the Volvo C30, S40, and V50. The Volvo Powershift transmission is a six-speed unit featuring twin wet clutches to allow gear changing comforts that could only be felt from automatic gearboxes. However, it just feels like an automatic transmission but it works and provides the performance of a manual transmission. So, how does this advanced shifting technology works? It operates as two parallel manual transmission boxes and its twin wet clutches work independently of one another. Each clutch operates a set of gears – one clutch operates the odd gears (1, 3, 5, and reverse) and the second clutch controls the even gears (2, 4, and 6). As that is the case, the two work alternately – as one engages, the second disengages, working just like a skip clutch. Thus, at the same time that the engine achieves full power and maximum thrust in the first gear, the second gear is already placed and ready to be engaged. This is the same with the other gears as well. Therefore, one can expect a continuous flow of power without distractions or any loss of torque. The result naturally is faster and smoother gear changes all the while maintaining acceleration. Aside from smoother and faster gear changes and less power distractions, the Volvo Powershift also contributes to improved fuel efficiency. On the Volvo C30, the Powershift provides 47.9mpg on a combined cylcle and 156g/km of CO2 emissions, and with Volvo S40 and V50, combined fuel consumption is 47.1mpg and 159g/km of CO2 emissions. Senior Vice President of Research and Development in Volvo Cars, Magnus Jonsson, said, “Lower fuel consumption allied to increased comfort and higher performance sounds like an impossible equation. But with Powershift we have shown this is perfectly possible.”