Porsche to stick with manual gearboxes

Porsche has promised to keep offering its sports cars with a manual transmission well into the future, hoping it provides a point of difference for performance car enthusiasts.

The German brand has followed other rivals in deleting a three-pedal option from its most focussed variants of the 911 – such as the hard-core GT3 and top-end Turbo models – in favour of a faster-shifting dual-clutch automatic.

But the man responsible for the iconic coupe, 911 product director August Achleitner, told Drive recently that Porsche is looking to continue development of manual gearboxes in standard Carrera models for at least the foreseeable future.

"We have the discussion many times whether we should offer a manual in the future or not because the sales numbers of the [dual-clutch] PDK is really high – up to 85 percent in some markets," he said.

"And then it comes the question for the next generation to develop a new manual gearbox or to carry it over from its predecessor. But we want to keep it for one reason; our competitors do not offer a manual and it could be a specific characteristic of the 911 that you can still get a manual gearbox."

As a sign of how serious it is in continuing to develop its manual transmissions, the seven-speed gearbox in the 911 Carrera GTS – which was launched in California last week ahead of its arrival in Australia next February – features a host of upgrades that further improve the shift feel to make it more precise.