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Aston Martin aiming to be last manufacturer making manual sports cars

Aston Martin is on a bit of a roll at the moment. They’ve got the stunning new DB11 and some six other production cars to follow, plus a hypercar which is being jointly developed with Red Bull. Now the company CEO Andy Palmer has told Car & Driver that the British automaker will continue to offer manual gearboxes in their vehicles for as long as possible. They’re aiming to be the last man standing

“I’ve already gone on the record saying I want to be the last manufacturer in the world to offer a manual sports car,” Palmer said. Palmer mentioned that the new 2017 Vantage will be available with both automatic and manual gearboxes, while the engine will be build in partnership with Mercedes-AMG.

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Palmer also promised that you won’t ever see a dual-clutch automatic transmission in an Aston Martin vehicle – he thinks they’re too heavy and don’t offer enough of an advantage over a conventional torque-converter automatic gearbox. Thankfully, they will be using the excellent ZF 8-speed automatic in all of their V12 cars, which is at least some conciliation.

We doubt this will upset many buyers, as Aston Martin vehicles have always been more than just numbers or performance figures, so it is good to see them sticking to their core values when the majority of manufacturers are downsizing their engines and exclusively offering dual-clutch or CVT automatics.

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