The British brand promises to take the #savethemanuals movement to its ultimate consequences.
If, on the one hand, Aston Martin surrendered to industry trends with the production of a new SUV – which could be hybrid or even electric – on the other hand, the British brand does not seem to want to let go of its roots, namely the manual gearboxes.It was already known that Andy Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin, was not a fan of automatic transmissions or dual clutches, as they only added “weight and complexity”. In an interview with Car & Driver, Palmer was even more explicit: “We want to be the last manufacturer in the world to offer sports cars with manual transmission”, he said.
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In addition, Andy Palmer also announced the renewal of the sports car range with a new Aston Martin V8 Vantage – the first with a 4.0-liter AMG bi-turbo engine – as early as next year, and the new Vanquish, in 2018. Palmer also admitted the possibility of implementing V8 engines in the new DB11, presented in Geneva, for markets that justify it.
Source: Car & Driver