New MANUAL TRANSMISSION Ferraris-Doug Demuro

The service life on a double clutch is more more manufacturer-friendly though. No worries about an idiot driver wearing out 90% of the clutch on a lease or before trade in, and the big prize is unlike a manual that can have the clutch plates replaced by an indie, they guarantee continued replacement of the whole thing and huge service costs when they start grenading later in life.

 

You missed one that I bought for my 16 year old daughter last year……Nissan Versa. The manual turns it from blah commuter’s car to fun nimble sedan. I even snatched it from her to drive to work today.

 

The job is always easy for the guy that doesn't have to do it.

 

Their are already independents repairing/rebuilding etc Ferrari DKGs just like they are doing for all the other makes using Getrag DKGs, It not like some piece of alien technology no one wants to open. Only Ferrari is trying to control access to parts, information and tooling. The other car makers are not that stupid.

 

I don't think thats necessarily a fair argument. Corvette has had an Autobox since 1953, and always offered one throughout. Plus how many die hard Corvette owners are repeat customers, especially at their price point? Anyone has always been able to afford a corvette, not necessarily car people looking to maximize performance. American cars from the 70s-90s didn't really have a great manual option on anything, nor was it really part of the culture, Corvette included. ZR-1 was all manual, Z06 I believe was too. But frankly not til C7 that GM got serious in build quality to really lure buyers away from European equivalents.

 

I owned a manufacturer for over 20 years, though not in the auto industry. But, I cant tell you how many threads Ive seen over the decades where customers thought they knew my market better than I did, and that I should be doing X or Y and Id be making more money.

They were always wrong and simply part of the False Consensus Fallacy, where they think because they are into something, that lots of others are as well.

Ferrari knows its market. Ferrari knows where the best ROIs are. I bet many, if not most of the people saying they should build manuals again, would not have approved the Purosangue for production.

 

+1

I think the current cars that Ferrari makes, a manual simply wouldn't suit them at all. Too powerful, engine character not really suiting it either. Porsche on the GT3, it makes sense...

Ferrari would do better if they set up a very strong heritage support factory instead, reproducing parts that have become unobtanium. Look at mirrors for a Challenge Stradale for example...stupid money now because Ferrari makes them once in a blue moon.

Offer factory certified manual conversions for cars that were manual or paddle shift (imagine what they can charge for that, and with the Ferrari approved label on it they'll be raking in the money!), seats (racing seats really since that's what most people would want to upgrade to), engines, gearboxes, gearknobs, carbon trim pieces...It costs them a fraction to make and the mark up for them will be insane.

 

Ferrari has had heritage support for decades. Its current name is Maranello Classics. They have exclusive rights to make and sell all parts since 430 or maybe 458 clear back to the 166. They used to do a better job of it prior to Roger Penske owning it. The bean counters have cut back on less popular part numbers. Every part you buy from a dealer for a 308 or a 550 or a 430 comes from them. If a CS mirror is NLA, complain to them. If they get enough orders it will happen. Until then there is no money to be made.

Ferrari also already has a large accessory department. Have had it for years. Exhausts, wheels, carbon fiber....you name it. Someone just gave me a few of their catalogs. One is quite large. Want a titanium gas cap? How many?

Ferrari hates the fact their cars get modified and they will never approve of it being done by an outside operation. They do modifications in house to the degree they want to. Always have. Their willingness is usually directly connected to how much you are willing to pay. I know of a few cases where it was very difficult to convince them to do something right up until the check book came out.
Ferrari has no interest in retrograde technology. Until it is possible for a stick shift to be faster than an F1, DKG or whatever it is off the table. It just does not fit the image Ferrari has created.

 

In the immortal words of Brian Wilson…..

Gotta be cool now,
Powershift here we goooooooo………

 

"One more radar lover to go"???

Uh, that was Golden Earring, not the Beach Boys.

 

I was quoting “Shut Down.”

Here it is……

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I just saw a late model Porsche with a stick shift on the road. It was being driven by a 70 year old woman.

Now I know the demographic.

 

Ouch!

 

That was Dale in a rental.

 

What costs more today, a 430 with an automatic or a 430 with a manual? As far as I’m concerned if it doesn’t have a clutch pedal it’s an automatic.

 

If I were a car mechanic, I'd pray hard, every single night, that every car ever made had an F1-type transmission.

For car owners who prefer manual transmissions, however, having the F1 transmissions be far less fun, in addition to having hugely increased maintenance and repair costs, is a lose-lose proposition.

 

When Apple tried to make the gold plated $20,000 iWatch, it didn't work for them long term. Hence, they don't offer it anymore. Ferrari represents the latest technology, sort of like - Apple. Anyone can take a iWatch and deck it out (there is a cottage industry that does just this.) - Just like folks that do transmission swaps with late model Ferrari.

Nobody is saying folks that prefer analog watches that need to be serviced are wrong. I'm certainly not. What I'm saying is it doesn't make sense for Apple to follow Patak.

 

It seems the opposite.

Watch enthusiasts pay a (huge) premium for less accurate, more service-intensive mechanical watches. I'm in this category.

For cars, Ferrari, McLaren et al buyers want the ultimate performance and pay a premium. Three-pedal manuals aren't dead -- just need to go down market. Mazda MX-5 offers the old school experience. They offer serious "connectedness" but sacrifice performance at the Porsche/Ferrari/McLaren level. The premium seems to be for classic/vintage cars from when the state of the art was a three-pedal manual.

 

Down market like T33 and T50

"Murray confirms that early demand has been almost entirely for the stick-shift. “I may well have shot myself in the foot,” he says, “because we’ve pre-sold half the cars already and so far we’ve only had two people order a paddle shift. I’ve committed myself to millions of pounds in development spend and I could end up with 97 manuals and three autos.”


https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a35620211/gordon-murray-t33-revealed/

 

Busted .

 

Based on the article the T33 actually is the downmarket edition of the T50. But it is a wise move to siphon buyers from Porsche.

The T50 uses the dual clutch box.


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat

 

I wouldn’t compare Apple to Ferrari. Apple is more like Tesla than Ferrari. Ferrari is closer to Patek… until they start producing EVs.

 

If $1.85 million is considered “downmarket,” I guess most of us are swimming in the downmarket of automobiles.

 

Downmarket isn't inexpensive for this McLaren, but it is the detuned model. Similar to Porsche with the GT3 RS (PDK) versus Sport Classic (three pedal manual).