360 Challenge Stradale - 6 speed manual

exactly i don't understand the need to keep up with the magazine stats. At this point all cars are so fast they should focus on fun and differentiating themselves from everyone else.

 

Its the cost/hassle of certifying the manual version in addition to the auto-trans version.

That and 90% of buyers not caring and then, in turn, Ferrari not needing to care about the sub-10% that won't buy an autotrans sports car (more like 0.1%).

 

Understood and I agree.

The answer is to crunch the #'s and take all of this information into account and optionally offer the manual transmission, as an extra cost option where the manufacturer will end up with an additional profit.

List the manual for $50,000 and you will have more than thirty buyers each model year. If $50K is not enough charge $75K and you will find buyers at that price. Some pay $1,500 for colored seat belts.

 

yeah, I've thought the same thing over the years, but I generally think two things about Ferrari:

1) They don't like to (purposely) lose customers
2) They don't like to leave profit un-captured

So I've concluded my thought about it with, "meh, there is probably something they know about it that I don't".

 

When F1 was relatively new I heard stories of Ferrari dealers refusing to order manual cars. There was definitely a conspiracy to kill demand help them justify the removal of the manual transmission. Look at 911s the take rate is high and unlike Ferrari, Porsche listened to their customers.

 

when the 360 came out the F1 was popular and no one wanted the manual I remember the used manual 360s being priced below the F1. and hard to sell ... etc...

 

It was simpler than that. The F1 was a costly option. The standard was not.

 

I was at the Porsche dealer a few weeks ago and he complained that the 911 manuals still sell very slowly, especially used ones.

 

I have the car in Chicago. Had Aldous at AV Engineering redo the ecus. Previously the throttle/power delivery in lower rpms felt unnatural/odd. Original software was programmed as an F1 but coding to ignore it. Aldous redid ecus to behave as a manual transmission and car now feels great.

Khanh

 

That's interesting. I shop 911s habitually and the manuals are always priced higher. Maybe that's why they take longer to sell?

 

Imo The people that buy brand new cars are generally drawn to the latest and greatest technology. Those that buy second hand cars are more inclined to buy the car with the options they truly want.

 

I would guess somewhere there has to be a sweet spot where the factory makes money and select customers can optionally pay more for the manual transmission. Porsche figured it out with the GT-3 and the manual transmission.

Mox nix. Last new fun car I purchased was a 2001 Z-3 3.0 5 spd manual. Today, as a certified exclusive bottom feeder I will not lift a finger, if it is not at least 20 years old and forgotten, by the jet set.

With that being the case I just might be looking at walkers, by the time the factory releases a hot new 12 cylinder n/a manual transmission and no electrical hybrid. Gotta wait until nobody else would want it.