The World’s Most Iconic Sports Car Isn’t Doing Away with the Manual Any Time Soon, Company Confirms

The manual transmission has long been a dying art and a slow-sinking ship. But Porsche knows how important it is to the experience of its most iconic model: the 911. As such, they plan to keep it around for the foreseeable future, but only where it’s demanded and for variants like the Carrera.

Speaking with the 911’s chief lineup manager, Michael Rösler, at the Munich auto show, Britain’s evo magazine learned that Rösler has no intention of getting rid of the manual. Interestingly, its purpose and placement has changed over the years. It’s become a uniquely desirable feature rather than an engineering necessity.

Here’s what is true now.

Automatic transmissions simply perform better

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Years ago, the manual transmission was often standard equipment due to its simplicity and its ability to deliver power to the axles with minimal parasitic mechanical power losses.

Although automatics have almost been around as long as manuals, they are historically far more complex and maintenance/repair intensive — and often carried fuel and power delivery inefficiencies.

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In short, they just didn’t perform as well as manual transmissions did. It largely comes down to their use of what’s called a “torque converter.” It’s essentially a hydraulic fluid coupling that helps transfer power from the engine’s flywheel to the transmission’s input shaft.

On a manual transmission, no torque converter exists. In its place is a manually-operated clutch that utilizes friction plates and synchronizing gears to help match engine flywheel rotational speed with the transmission’s input shaft. This clutch is operated by the car’s “third pedal.”

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Because of all of this —and the fact that manuals are far more engaging and involving — driving enthusiasts prefer the three-pedal arrangement. It’s also the main reason why they’re wanted in cars like the 911.

Over the past decade, however, automatic transmission technologies have improved tenfold. Not only do they shift faster than any human possibly can and enable faster performance times, innovations have largely eliminated their mechanical inefficiencies.

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That’s why hi-po variants of the 911 and even the 718 Boxster and Cayman don’t offer manuals.

Add in the fact that demand for manuals in regular cars dwindled in the face of commuter culture — let’s admit, getting stuck in stop-and-go gridlock with a manual can get tiring — and their disappearance became expected and unsurprising.

The manual is for those who favor driver involvement over speed

But Rösler promises that 911 fans can expect the optional manual to stick around, especially for those who care more about their holistic driving experiences, rather than record-setting lap times.

“We look at the market closely and in Europe last time, we saw 2 maybe 3 percent ordered a manual in the Carrera line,” Rösler told evo.

“That gets us to some problems with our suppliers because they need to supply a certain number of parts. The US is a completely different story. The past GTS had about 50 percent of customers ordering a manual.

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“For Porsche, in the US and Britain, manuals are a very interesting market. We watch it closely, it’s why we did the Carrera T manual – it was one of my early decisions to do the Carrera T,” Rösler continued.

“We wanted to make it sharper, we looked at the cable setup from the GT3, to lower it a bit. I think the precision with the three gates makes a difference. We are thinking about all the possibilities to get the customers a manual.”

The manual’s availability depends on customer demand

Rösler also explained that there’s a business aspect to it. It makes no sense to produce a ton of manual-equipped models if they’re not going to sell. It’s a case of the ends justifying the means.

Rather, the accountants at Porsche are asking product managers like Rösler to comb over the market data to truly determine if their inclusion makes business sense. Part of this process is tuning in to the demands of the customer as closely as possible.

Will Sabel Courtney

“You have to listen to customers and not be wedded to conventional engineering traditions in your mind. People love to hear the sound of the engine with the roof down – it’s fun so it makes sense,” Rösler went on.

“Those Californian customers are asking for more [manual convertibles] so let’s see what the future holds.”

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