Aston Martin Will Save the Manuals
The survival of the manual transmission has been an ongoing debate for a while now... and its future isn't looking too good. Several sports car manufacturers decided to abandon this type of gearbox; Ferrari doesn't offer any manuals anymore, Porsche has a twin-clutch unit that is way faster than anything with three pedals and even the conventional torque-converter type transmission can now outperform the sportiest manual.
However, there is still hope. During an interview with Road&Track, Aston Martin's CEO was adamant: as long as he will be leading the English brand, there would be a row-your-own transmission in their cars. Andy Palmer even wants to be the very last sports car maker to sell a manual.
The next DB11 will be the first car born of the AMG-Aston Martin union. It will feature a twin-turbo, 4.0-litre V8 powertrain. Interestingly, getting in an Aston Martin will be the only way to get an AMG drivetrain with a manual, since Mercedes-Benz decided they wanted nothing to do with this technology anymore.
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