Aston Martin abandons manual gearbox

Aston Martin has revealed that it’s pulling the plug on the development of all future manual transmissions, despite a previous commitment by the British sports car-maker to be the “last manufacturer in the world to offer manual sports cars”.

According to CEO Tobias Moers, the manual Aston Martin V8 Vantage AMR will be phased out ahead of next year’s big facelift and that the gearbox beloved of purists will be gone for good.

Aston had previously announced that the 2022 Aston Martin Vanquish that’s being readied to rival the Ferrari F8 Tributo would come with the do-it-yourself transmission.

But those plans have now been scrapped.

Under former chief Aston boss Andy Palmer’s leadership, developing and offering a manual gearbox was considered a valuable use of resources as it offered a unique selling point for the British brand as more and more of its rivals, like Ferrari, dropped them from their line-up.

Under straight-talking Moers’ stewardship, he simply no longer sees the point.

“You have to realise sports cars have changed quite a bit,” he told carsales at a roundtable interview with journalists.

Specifically referencing the manual developed internally by Aston Martin, the ex-Mercedes-AMG boss said: “To be honest, it was not a good journey.

“We did a few assessments about that car [manual] – you don’t need it anymore. And you have to maintain it with the new regulations, year-by-year with the emissions because it’s a bespoke powertrain. It makes no sense.”

Moers also shrugged off his predecessor’s logic of positioning the company as the last sports car-maker in the world to offer the coveted third pedal by pointing out that the current Porsche 911 GT3 comes with a manual transmission option, and that Aston Martin buyers overwhelmingly prefer an automatic.