Porsche originally pioneered a working version of the dual clutch gearbox concept on some 962 Group C cars in the late 1980s, but it took until 2003 for the design to show up in production vehicles. When Volkswagen introduced the six speed DSG in various Audi, VW, and Skoda models, it used dual wet clutches in a setup designed and built by Borg-Warner.

The DSG has half the gears connected to one clutch with the other half connected to the second clutch. It works essentially as two interwoven gearboxes tied to a single output. As one clutch is engaged, the other is disengaged and shifted. When it's time to go up or down a gear the corresponding gears on the open clutch are coupled and the two clutches swap positions. At that point the gears on the opposite are coupled in preparation for the next shift.

This year, Volkswagen is introducing a new-generation DSG with an extra gear and dry clutches. The new seven-speed gearbox is more compact than the original and more efficient thanks in part to the dry clutches. Because of its smaller size, the new box can be used in models all the way down to the Polo. VW will start building the new gearboxes late this year and they will appear in the Golf with the 1.4L TSI gas engine and the 1.9L TDI diesel. The 1.4L TSI is also new, and like VW's other TSI engines uses direct fuel injection but uses only a turbocharger rather than the twin turbo/supercharger setup used on the other TSI mills.