Will Ferrari ever make another manual transmission?

I doubt it, since the overwhelming majority order the paddles. Unless you get a guy like
Eric Clapton who commissions one. It would be great to see Ferrari do a Porsche Boxster ( 1st generation) like car. A simple, small throwback sports car with a manual, light on the electronics. It would definitely be a huge revenue stream for them. Look what the Porsche SUV is doing for them.

 

AFAIK Claptons car was only externally modified?

 

I too am a huge fan of manual transmission cars with three pedals. I like the sense of involvement. As a recreational Ferrari driver, I want to be really involved.

That said, the paddle shift transmissions have such a performance advantage that I can't imagine Ferrari going back to a stick in any future cars. If you look at the succession of modern Ferrari cars you see great attention being paid to performance improvements and technical advances between models. This is clearly at the top of their agenda when introducing new models.

I would love to see a less expensive Ferrari produced that is more about the raw experience with minimal luxury. Maybe something with a Dino label... they could sell a lot of them. I doubt we will see this though as it would dilute the brand. The public perception is that these are expensive supercars and introducing a significantly cheaper model would not help the brand image. Ferrari understand that they need to maintain that perception of exclusivity.

I suspect that Fiat Group could introduce something via Lancia or Alfa that would fill this niche, but sadly, I don't see Ferrari doing it.

 

The drive train of Eric Clapton's one off SP12 EC is the standard 458 Italia drive train, including the semi-automatic gearbox.

 

My personal opinion is that manufacturers such as Ferrari, Lambo etc etc have lost the plot! If a client is spending $100-$200K+ they should have a choice of how they want to shift their gears and the manufacturer should not be deciding what tranny the customer will recieve.

 

In one of the Enzo interviews, I don't remember if it was the one at the museum but he talks about his vision of the driver not having to manually shift the gears or worry about shifting gears. I know at least someone here has seen the same video.

 

Sounds like a 348 to me....

 

Didn't Ferrari offer a manual on the California recently and almost nobody ordered it with the manual? If nobody's buying them, it isn't worth developing it from Ferrari's financial standpoint. The age of clutches and manual gearboxes is behind us. The C7 Corvette will probably be the last sports car ever designed with a standard manual.

 

Mercedes Benz, Bentley, Audi, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini etc apparently don,t think so and are doing very well.

 

Ahhh, the ol' "the manufacturers are wrong and we're right" argument.

Ferrari, Lambo et al haven't lost anything... They're businesses, in it to make money.

The clients spending $100-200k (and actually, much more) on Ferraris and Lambos did have a choice and they voted almost unanimously with their wallets and orders in favour of F1-style gearboxes. The guys ordering new are paying a lot of money for the privilege of buying the pinacle of automotive engineering and that means cars without a clutch peddle. If the orders dictated a demand for manual cars, the manufacturers would surely respond. But the demand would have to be sufficient to cover the R&D costs and that alone make this a long shot.

I enjoy shifting gears as much as the next guy, but it has it's time and place. Give me a F355, or 930, or E-Type with a manual, and I'm a happy guy! But if I'm hopping into a 458, or Aventador, or even a new M5, I want the best that the manufacturer can currently offer and that means a car with paddles.

To me, manual transmissions give a nostalgic element to driving... The analog aspect that reminds me of a time when machines were more simple. As I said, I feel there's a time and a place for both analog and digital and the key is finding the balance. I don't lament apple for not offering a turntable with tube amp on the ipod

 

Ferrari, among other exotic car manufacturers, are in the relentless pursuit of technological innovation and competing in that market. Building a car today with a good ol' 6 speed stick shift would not make any sense.

Nothing against a manual, but it's like Lady Gaga putting out an album on cassette...

 

Auto boxes also let manufacturers program around specific emissions requirements for street cars (and mileage tests). Defaults to auto for a reason.

It's not all about speed.

 

Do you go to a top of the range Hi-Fi manufacturer demanding that for the price you're paying, they must fit it with an 8-track player?, or that it must be able to play the old 78rpm records?

Why should the Hi-Fi manufacturers limit your choice when you're paying top dollar for it?


How about a top of the range car stereo that plays CD's, CD-R's, CD-RWs, MP3's, has I-pod connectivity , bluetooth, has FM, AM, LW, MW etc., costs $1000's - but hang on! - what about your old cassette tapes? do you query the fact that for the money you're paying, you don't get that option any more? Do you demand that they give you the option of still being able to play cassette tapes? - Or do you just accept that times have moved on?




Now look at things from Ferrari's point of view:

As with any manufacturer, the ideal situation for Ferrari is to have a standardised production process where all your products in a single range are basically identical, with different options being more a less a simple bolt on/plug-in process.

This means you have a standardised parts which helps keep the costs down.

A classic example are car wiring looms. As a manufacturer, would you go to the expense of making individual looms for each car depending on the options to be fitted, or do you make a single loom that is capable of dealing with all the possible options? - The answer is rather obvious!
(Even companies with products as expensive as Ferrari's are, need to rationalise their manufacturing expenditure!)


Now lets look at the gearbox situation.

If you make a manual and a semi-automatic version of your car, you instantly double the cost of the gearbox components and you have to allow room in your car design to allow for the linkage to the gearbox for the manual option, along with the clutch operation system (including pedals, linkages, etc., etc.). This can all take up some very valuable space, especially around the foot pedals.

A big complaint of manual Ferrari's in the past has been the offset position of the foot pedals in relation to the steering wheel due to the need for the front wheel well, and how close the pedals have to be to each other due to the limited space in the foot-well, both of which can make the cars uncomfortable to drive for some (and considering how much larger tyre/wheel combinations have become, it's a more major issue than ever before).

With a semi-automatic gearbox there's only two pedals to fit into the space, allowing for a much more comfortable pedal position.

The Gear-change operation can be carried out by thin electrical wires rather than rods or cables and there is no clutch linkage required from the drivers feet to the clutch assembly.

So production costs are lower and there's more comfort for the driver.


Next we come to the ideology behind Ferrari's gearbox thinking:

Ferrari as a Company want to be seen as an innovative Company, at the forefront of technology that stems from it's racing program. They were the first Team in the World to have semi-automatic gearboxes in F1 and so they want make full use of the racing link.

Apart from packaging advantages, semi-automatic gearbox also have the advantage that the drivers hands are never very far away from the steering wheel and the gear changes can be made much quicker, with less chances of mis-shifting.

So gear changes can be made in a tenth the time of a manual, the drivers hands stay near the steering wheel, making fast driving safer, there's more room/comfort for the driver and their feet and it costs less to fit - based on standardisation of parts if nothing else!

Basically, semi-automatics are the future and manual gearboxes are an archaic thing of the past!



"But the customer is paying a lot of money so they should get the choice!" you say.

It's the same as with the Hi-Fi's, the car stereos, the TV's etc., etc., unless you prepared to pay massively over the standard price, then you have to accept the options that the manufacturer supplies - and that times and technologies move on!



What is quite funny is that it used to be Ferrari as a Company that were very resistant to change: They were late fitting disc brakes, fuel injection, mid mounted engines and many other such things.

Now it appears that it's the some of the customers and not the Company that are resistant to change!

 

Me thinketh you do not understand the technical and financial costs involved with creating a gearbox that less than 10% would order...

Im also a fan of the manual gearbox...but I also run a business and understand what ROI means.

 

It should be technically possible to add a manual shifter to the existing dual-clutch 7-speed F1 transmission.

Imagine, using drive-by-wire technology, they added a stick-shift and clutch pedal to the 458.
The clutch would "feel like a mechanical clutch" to your leg but would electronically operate the computerized clutch in the F1 trans.
Same thing with the shifter. It would "feel like a stick-shift" to your hand but would be operating the gear shift in the F1 trans.
The friction and pressure feedback in both the clutch pedal and shifter would be fully computer-simulated to match what is happening at that time with the internal mechanicals inside the F1 trans.

So, then, you'd have the best of both worlds: paddle shift and stick-shift - in the same car.
You could just switch the mode button from: auto, to paddle, to stick.

We'd need a 7-speed shift gate though.

(And maybe in the FF they put the shifter on the steering column - the ol' 7-on-the-tree shifter).

 

I've experienced paddle shifting in my wife's M3, my S63 and by way of many test drives. I don't get what is suppose to be so fun about paddle shifting? I get why a F1 car would have it but they are trying to win a race not go out and have fun. I find it sad. I am still baffled that there are so few people who would want a stick shift? I love the 458 and might have even bought one if it had a stick shift. I now realize that I better just take care of my 355.

 

Not only did golf carts deprive the experience of manually advancing the course terrain, they're all automatics.

 

Like fake carbon fiber

 

touché

.

 

I think you're overestimating the market at 10%... Rumored takeup of the manual in the california was 7. Not percent, but 7 cars. Nobody ordered them so they stopped making them.

If one really really wanted a manual trans 458, one could buy a 458 GT3, a regular 458 and a 430 6 speed. Take the trans from the 458 GT3 and the shifter mechanism and linkage from the 430 and put them in the 458 and voila, a manual trans 458. Kinda pricey, though.

 

I thought that 15% of the 430's sold were stick shift?