Aston Martin will no longer offer a manual transmission in any of its cars when the Vantage sports car is given an update in 2022.
CEO Tobias Moers confirmed the plans in an interview last month with Australian media, including Car Advice.
He pointed to low demand and the need to have separate compliance to the automatic cars as the reasons for the manual’s demise.
His predecessor, Andy Palmer, saw the manual as a point of differentiation among the exotic car brands since none of Aston Martin’s rivals still offer one.
Palmer as recently as 2019 promised to offer a manual in a mid-engine Vanquish supercar, vowing at the time that Aston Martin would remain the last manufacturer in the world to offer manual performance cars.
In his efforts to return Aston Martin to profitability after a disastrous 2020, a year which saw Aston Martin shed 500 jobs and its share price bottom out 94% lower than its IPO price just two years earlier, Moers has also decided to abandon a new V-6 engine developed under Palmer.
The V-6 was due to make its debut in a new Valhalla hypercar. Instead, Aston Martin will rely on powertrains sourced from Mercedes-Benz AMG, including new plug-in hybrid setups, as well as the company’s own V-12.
Moers has also said that Aston Martin will begin transitioning to electric vehicles mid-decade, and the company plans for half of its cars to be fully electric by 2030 and the rest electrified.
This article was originally published by Motor Authority, an editorial partner of ClassicCars.com.
