Porsche has confirmed that it will continue to offer the 911 and 718 models with manual transmissions for as long as possible, hopefully through the current generation of its sports cars.
While many other performance-focused car manufacturers have ditched manual transmissions over the last 10-15 years (we’re looking at you Ferrari and Lamborghini), Porsche has soldiered on and kept producing arguably the finest stick shifts currently available. While recently speaking on the carmaker’s commitment to manual transmissions, Porsche 911 and 718 boss Frank Moser said the demand from customers is the reason they’ve stuck around.
“Manual transmission is always what the customer wants in the 911, so we have been and are working as long as possible to save the manuals,” Moser told The Drive. “That’s absolutely relevant for the 911. That’s why we have the 911 T with a manual gearshift, and now the 911 S/T with a stick shift, and that’s really because customers want a stick shift.”
Read: How Would You Configure Your Dream 2024 Porsche 911 S/T?
Moser added that the carmaker is “working on” ensuring that it can keep manuals alive through the current generation of 911 and 718. What will happen after that? We’ll have to wait and see but given that the 718 will morph into an EV, it will obviously lose a manual in the future but we’re hopeful that as long as Porsche continues building an ICE 911, it will continue to offer a manual.
Interestingly, Moser indicated that the car manufacturer doesn’t have any interest in trying to make a manual for an electric vehicle. Toyota is known to be researching a potential synthetic stick shift for EVs but Moser thinks this is inauthentic and doesn’t want to follow suit.
“What we want, and that’s the key for Porsche, is to make it authentic,” he said. “So therefore, I don’t know that there’s a way for us to have a stick shift in an electrified car.”
