Aston Martin has officially revealed its plans to fit a manual gearbox to the new Vantage. The brand revealed its plans in a teaser image with AMR (Aston Martin Racing) branding. The manual transmission will likely be introduced alongside a subtle update, in a similar manner to the DB11 AMR from last year. Specifics at this point remain unknown. Since the previous V12 Vantage S utilised a seven-speed manual, this new Vantage might offer the same. Doing that will also improve its fuel efficiency as well as emissions, thanks to the further overdrive gear.
Aston Martin will use the same AMG-sourced 4-litre, twin-turbocharged V8 from the standard Vantage. This will be the first that both AMG or Aston Martin have mated a M177 hot-V V8 to a manual transmission. A hot V is a term for engines where the turbocharger is located within the V of the cylinder banks. It has likely required a large amount of calibration and development work between the two powertrain components.
The inclusion of a physical manual transmission lever will also require a substantial redesign to the interior. This is because the automatic Vantage has a column-mounted gear selector borrowed from Mercedes-Benz.
This is all the information that Aston Martin has revealed so far. But as one of the few remaining sports cars with a manual transmission, its commercial success, once the car enters production will be crucial to the survival of the species.
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