Manual transmission officially dropped from Aston Martin range in Australia

Aston Martin has removed the manual transmission from its line-up globally.

Australian buyers will now only be able to take delivery of an Aston Martin with an automatic transmission, despite a former CEO promising to keep the option available to its customers.

“I want to be the last manufacturer in the world to offer manual sports cars, and I want to honour that commitment,” Aston Martin Chief Executive Officer Andy Palmer said in a statement back in 2019.

That changed when Tobias Moers took the top job, telling a roundtable of Australian media in May 2021 the manual transmission would be phased out ahead of the MY22 Vantage’s arrival.

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The decision was part of a raft of changes introduced by Moers to reduce spending and stabilise finances at the British manufacturer.

The removal of the manual Vantage from the range means the cost of entry into an Aston Martin sports car has increased by more than $20,000 to $299,462 before on-road costs.

While the Vantage was one of the most expensive three-pedal cars on the Australian market for some time, that title now belongs to the $369,900 plus on-road costs Porsche 911 GT3 – with the manual gearbox available as a no-cost option.