Posted on: Feb 20, 2013 | 21,930 reads

Porsche May Nix the Manual Soon

Ferrari has already done so, Lamborghini has too, and now it appears Porsche will also drop the manual gearbox entirely within a few years' time.

With nearly 80 percent of buyers opting for the PDK dual-clutch gearbox over a manual transmission for popular models like the 911 and Cayman, Porsche has recently admitted outright that the conventional manual could be dropped entirely in just a few years. Speaking with The Sydney Morning Herald, Porsche’s R&D chief Bunno Brandlhuber stated that "There are some Porsche enthusiasts who prefer a manual and we will continue to offer this in the meantime.... But maybe one day it will become irrelevant."

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With the ratio of PDK to manuals sold continuing to rise in dual-clutch's favor, and rumors that even the track-focused GT3 will go PDK in its newest iteration, how much time has the three-pedal gearbox got left in Stuttgart? It may be too early to say, but legendary rally champion and Porsche test driver Walter Rohrl recently said that he "doesn’t need a manual gearbox anymore. The PDK shifts perfectly and I don’t have to do anything."