Now, Aston Martin abandons the manual transmission

Aston Martin to completely phase-out manual transmission from its product lineup from 2022.

Aston Martin has confirmed that they will phase out the manual transmission from its entire product lineup by 2022.

Speaking to Australian media, Tobias Moers, CEO, Aston Martin stated that the company will phase out the manual transmission-equipped V8 Vantage AMR, ahead of the arrival of its facelift next year. The announcement comes despite a previous commitment by former CEO Andy Palmer.

Palmer, the former CEO of the British carmaker, had plans to continue offering manual transmission across Aston Martin's product range. He had even stated that Aston Martin would be the last manufacturer in the world to offer manual sports cars. The company had also planned a manual gearbox equipped Aston Martin Vanquish in 2022, which has since been cancelled.

However, Moers stated that after a few internal assessments, it became clear that maintaining a manual gearbox with the year-on-year changing regulations "made no sense". Moers also stated that Aston Martin customers overwhelmingly prefer automatic transmissions.

Aston Martin is now the latest performance car brand to abandon manual transmission. It joins the list which also includes Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG. However, other rival brands like Porsche and BMW M continue to offer manual transmission options on their products. These include the new Porsche 911 GT3 and the BMW M3 and M4.

Source: Motoring.com.au