We’ve known that the blessed, blissful Ferrari gated manual was on its way out. Everything has to be paddle-shifted for performance, you see, but maybe it was possible to get one on special order. But no, you won’t even get those anymore. The Ferrari gated manual is officially dead.
For over a year now we’ve held out hope that some brave entrepreneurial spirit plunking down millions in sweet, sweet cash and demanding Ferrari custom-build them a glorious gated manual. But Ferrari’s chief technology officer, Michael Hugo Leiters, ruled out even that remote possibility in an interview with Motoring.com.au (emphasis mine):
“Technically spoken, no,” he said when asked if the manual would make a return. “Ferrari is design, performance and state of the art technologies. There’s no manual transmission that can beat this performance and therefore we have decided to stay on the double-clutch gearbox.”
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“The last time Ferrari had the possibility of a manual transmission as a special order was the first version of the California,” he said.
And that special order of the first-generation California sold for bonkers numbers, because there is some semblance of justice in the world.
But Ferrari, as Leiters said, is all about performance these days, which is presumably why it makes hard-top convertibles that weigh 110 pounds more than their coupe compatriots.
(The real reasoning is probably that it’s not worth it to engineer and design another gated manual, no matter the money someone is offering. Unless it’s some Brunei-level shit, which not even Brunei does anymore. Pagani will do it, but they’ll make you pay for the entire development of the car’s transmission. The point here is that money can no longer buy happiness. Unless you want a regular Ferrari with a paddle-shifted transmission, which is still actually a delight and will probably bring you much joy. It’s not the same, I know, but it’s not exactly something you turn down. It’ll still be fun. Trust me. I promise. Get out there and get your Ferrari. Just not with a manual. Ever again.)