Manual transmissions in new cars are not-so-quickly dying out, but dying out nonetheless, displaced by EVs, dual-clutch transmissions, and basic market forces. But Porsche said recently that it won’t be phasing out the stick shift in every 911 just yet, as it still thinks there is a place for a third pedal in the 911 GT3.
“[The manual,] in combination with the high revving 9,000-rpm ICE engine, is just such a big, huge fun factor,” Andreas Preuninger, Porsche’s GT director, told Motor1 at the 911 GT3 launch in Spain. “I think and we are in the entertainment business with this car. It’s not a means of transportation. We have to go for the smiles.”
Preuninger also said that manual transmissions decrease weight and lower emissions, the former improving driving dynamics and the latter perhaps helping Porsche to satisfy increasingly more stringent emissions rules. Motor1 says that just under half of 911 GT3 buyers in the U.S. opt for the manual transmission instead of the PDK dual-clutch, which surely informs Porsche’s product decisions as well.
The so-called “take rate” for manual transmission cars in the overall U.S. market is under 2 percent, though for enthusiast cars like the 911 GT3, the rate is significantly higher. BMW says that 65 percent of U.S. customers go manual in the Z4, for example, and half of M2 buyers.
Automakers will also be keeping a close eye on those numbers in the months and years to come, and, for Porsche, manual 718s—and internal combustion engine 718s, period—are already on their way out this year. Even the most hardcore manual transmission evangelists will concede that hybrid supercars are an exceptional driving experience, and, obviously, a more modern one, because technology doesn’t have much time for nostalgia. Porsche, in the meantime, is in the business of doing both.
Credit: robbreport.com
