Ferrari Officially Puts The Stick Shift Out To Pasture

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ferrari has officially added its name to the list of automakers that will no longer offer a manual transmission.

The company’s chief technology officer, Michael Hugo Leiters, explained the decision at the Paris Auto Show last week, citing performance and technology as the motivating factors.

Goodbye, gate.

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MDarringer - 10/11/2016 7:38:06 PM

0 Boost

Simply stated, paddle shifters are faster. I'd wager quite a few people would even go so far as wanting a full-automatic transmission and not ever think twice about shifting ever again. I enjoy a manual, but supercars have gotten so fast that a mechanical linkage just cannot keep up.

TheSteve - 10/11/2016 11:07:47 PM

+2 Boost

I don't spend any time on the track. I don't race on public streets. Still, I enjoy driving a sports car with a stick shift!

To bring this conversation back to Ferrari, the only way my preference for a stick would matter is if enough people like me passed up Ferraris for exotics with a stick. And the fact is that Ferrari is beyond my financial means, and Ferrari's competition has also abandoned the stick, so what Steve likes matters little in this realm :-(

TomM - 10/12/2016 7:38:24 AM

+3 Boost

My first car has a speed on the Column - and (Later) a radio was added that was useful only in the summer - since it tool 1/2 hour to warm up in the winter (Tubes). Progress happens - and in this case - the NEED to be able to be consistent in shifting - for emissions testing alone - means that some type of Automatic Shifting was inevitably going to be required. While I do have the means to afford one (Although my 6'71/2" frame cannot generally fit into them) - and have driven a number of them - I find that if you cannot really enjoy driving a Ferrari or Aston -or Lambo - without having a manual transmission - your are being incredibly - if not impossibly - picky. Getting a rush from those cars simply does not require a stick shift.