Aston Upholding Its Promise

Aston Martin’s CEO Andy Palmer has said in the past that he wants to be the last company out there to offer a manual transmission. That means the car company will have to be able to offer one on its upcoming new models. According to Car Sales, the manual is now a definite thing in for the new mid-engine Vanquish. 

This is an interesting and honestly smart move by the automaker. Sure the number of people who want a manual transmission might be pretty low, but Aston will be one of the few companies out there with a mid-engine supercar with a manual transmission. This makes the Vanquish even more of an alluring car in the eyes of many people. 

What manual transmission will be used, Palmer did not say. Motor Authority suggests it would be the 7-speed that was recently added to the Vantage. 

Palmer’s comments might make you think that all of Aston’s cars will have available manual transmissions, but that’s not the case. The upcoming Valhalla will not offer a manual. When asked if  it would Palmer said, “No, now that car will only come with a paddle-shift transmission.” That’s unfortunate but not surprising. A paddle-shift transmission makes sense for that car.