[POLL] Should the C8 Corvette Come With a Manual Transmission as an Option?

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With the increasing popularity of dual-clutch transmissions and paddle shifters, manual transmissions are becoming more and more scarce.  There’s no way a human being can possibly shift as fast as one of today’s automatic transmissions and automotive manufacturers are using these slush boxes to achieve their best performance numbers.  Is the final nail hanging over the manual transmission’s coffin?

Last year, only 9,249 2016 Corvettes were built  out of a total production of 40,689.  That’s a little under 23% of production and down about 10% from the 2015 Corvette Production Numbers.

According to Ferrari, the last manual-equipped Ferrari delivered to a customer was a 599GTB back in July of this year.  Speaking at the Frankfurt motor show back in 2015, stakeholders at Ferrari said the manual transmission had become obsolete in a performance sense because modern dual-clutch transmissions were much faster and effective in their shifts.

“Ferrari is design, performance, and state-of-the-art technologies. There’s no manual transmission that can beat this performance and therefore we have decided to stay on the double-clutch gearbox,” Michael Hugo Leiters, the automaker’s chief technology officer, said in an interview at the recent 2016 Paris Motor Show.

Also in 2015, Lamborghini trashed the manual transmission saying that demand for the manual transmission is all but non-existent.

We recently spoke to a Corvette Sales Specialist at MacMulkin Chevrolet, the second largest Corvette dealer in the country located in New Hampshire, about their observations regarding the demand for manual transmission equipped Corvettes.

“Approximately 20% of our Corvette orders are equipped with manual transmissions.  Even though the automatic has become increasingly popular, we still have customers coming in that are strictly looking for a Corvette with a manual transmission and believe that an automatic-equipped Corvette is sacrilege.”

So, we want to hear from our readers.  What do you think?  Should the next generation C8 Corvette – mid-engine or not, come with a manual transmission, or do you think Corvette engineers should go the same route as Ferrari and Lamborghini?  Is achieving the best 0-60 and 1/4 mile times and speeds more important to you than rowing through the gears, or do you strictly prefer to remain in total control of your Corvette?

Feel free to leave your comments below!

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