Ferrari Says Nope On Manual Gearboxes Making A Return

But one automaker that has put its foot down firmly against the manual transmission is Ferrari.

“Technically spoken, no. Ferrari is design, performance and state of the art technologies. There’s no manual transmission that can beat this performance and therefore we have decided to stay on the double-clutch gearbox,” said Ferrari's chief technology officer, Michael Hugo Leiters to Motoring.com.au.

We can't fault Leiters' argument for sticking with the dual-clutch transmission. On a race track, the milliseconds that are saved when changing gear with a dual-clutch than a manual transmission does mean a faster lap time. But a manual transmission offers a special connection for a driver to feel like they are playing a key role in making the vehicle move.

Ferrari's marketing chief Nicola Boari said there was little to argue for the manual transmission to stay around aside from high resale values.

“The last time Ferrari had the possibility of a manual transmission as a special order was the first version of the California. I’m not sure exactly but I think the total manual order was between three and five cars. It led to the conclusion that if you find one of those five cars in the market the value will be extremely high, but that’s a different subject.”

Ferrari isn't the only automaker to abandon the manual transmission. Lamborghini has dropped this option in the Huracán, and Porsche doesn't offer this in the 911 GT3. However, Porsche will be offering it on the next-generation GT3 due to the outcry from owners about the lack of the manual transmission.

Pic Credit: Ferrari