Shift Gears Manually In Your Hyundai Venue Turbo Without A Clutch Pedal!

• The iMT will be offered with the 1.0-litre turbo petrol engine.
• The 6-speed MT and DCT will continue to be offered with this engine.
• Kia’s upcoming sub-4 metre SUV, the Sonet, will also utilise this technology.

Hyundai India has announced that it will soon offer the Venue with a clutchless manual transmission dubbed the iMT (Intelligent Manual Transmission). The new gearbox option will be offered with the 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engine. The new gearbox eliminates the need for a clutch pedal and relies on a host of sensors to actuate the clutch plate to shift cogs. We’ve already seen this technology before in the TVS Jive.  

So how does the Venue’s new iMT gearbox work? Well, for starters, you still get a manual stick shifter to row through the gears. However, like cars with conventional automatic gearboxes, there’s no clutch pedal in the footwell. Instead, the task of shifting gears lies with an intention sensor, a hydraulic actuator and a transmission control unit. Let us explain about its operation in five easy points:

• As you drive and intend to change a gear, the lever intention sensor sends a signal to the TCU (transmission control unit), indicating you need to change gear. 

• The TCU then sends signals to the hydraulic actuator to form hydraulic pressure. 

• That pressure is then transferred to the concentric slave cylinder through the clutch tube. 

• With this pressure, the concentric slave cylinder controls the clutch and pressure plate, thereby engaging and disengaging the clutch plate.  

• And voila! You’re able to shift to gears without the need to depress a clutch pedal.

In layman's terms, this system uses a host of sensors and will automatically engage the clutch to shift and change gears. While this tech does offer convenience, a handful of you will definitely want a conventional clutch and gearbox. And there’s good news. The Venue Turbo with the standard 6-speed MT will be retained and the iMT will be sold alongside it. The Kia Sonet, which will use the same powertrain as the Venue, will also be offered with this technology.  

The Venue iMT is expected to reach showrooms soon and go on sale later this month. It will most likely be offered as a cheaper alternative to the Venue Turbo DCT variant and will take on AMT-equipped variants of the Tata Nexon and the Mahindra XUV300 and even the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Ford EcoSport that feature conventional torque convertor automatic gearboxes. Expect it to be priced between the Turbo manual (Rs 8.46 lakh to Rs 10.95 lakh) and Turbo DCT variants (Rs 9.60 lakh to Rs 11.51 lakh). Here’s a quick look at the current variants and their prices:

All prices, ex-showroom