Aston Martin Vantage Won’t Sport A Manual Transmission For Another Year

Have you been thinking about ordering up a new Aston Martin Vantage, but are set on getting the manual gearbox? If so, you may have to wait a bit.

According to the latest reports, it’ll be another year before Aston starts offering its new sports car with three pedals. Company spokesman Matthew Clarke told CarBuzz that “a manual version of the new Vantage is in our plans,” but that “at this stage it is at least 12 months away.”

The Vantage is currently offered with a Mercedes-AMG-sourced, 503 HP (510 PS/375 kW) and 505 lb-ft (685 Nm) 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. With the engine mounted far behind the front axle and the transmission at the rear, the Vantage is said to have perfect a 50/50 weight distribution.

More Versions To Follow
We’re expecting the manual version to boast seven forward gears, like the Porsche 911 and Chevrolet Corvette and we’re also anticipating a twelve-cylinder version to follow powered by the DB11’s 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12. In that application, the engine co-developed by Aston and AMG produces 600 hp (608 ps/447 kW) and 516 lb-ft (700 Nm) of torque.

A roadster, or Volante in Aston-speak, is also on the cards. But given the delay in rolling out the manual version, we wouldn’t count on additional variants to follow any time soon, especially since the existing model is already just about sold out until next year.

The previous Vantage was on the market for 12 long years, during which it bred a wide array of variants. This time around, and with the AMG partnership in place, its life-cycle should not be as long and the different versions will hit the market much sooner.