Porsche Doesn't Want the Manual to Die: 'Thinking About All Possibilities'

The engineer in charge of the 911 hints at more special-edition, manual models to come.

Porsche 911 T Manual Transmission

Photo by: Porsche

Chris Perkins

By: Chris Perkins

Sep 18, 2025 at 11:30am ET

Add Motor1.com as a preferred source in Google

Comment

Right now, there are only two manual Porsche 911 models on sale in the US—the Carrera T on one end, and the GT3 on the other. Although the market for manual sports cars outside the US and UK is small, Porsche still wants to expand its offerings. That probably means more special-edition models.

Road & Track brought our attention to this Evo interview with Porsche’s Michael Rösler, the model line director for the 911. He told Evo:

'We are thinking about all the possibilities to get the customers a manual.'

Rösler spurred on the manual-only Carrera T when he learned that the rest of the Carrera lineup would go dual-clutch only. In Europe, the take rate for manual Carreras was around 2 to 3 percent, though he does note that about 50 percent of US Carrera GTS customers went manual. But the new hybrid powertrain for the GTS isn’t compatible with the manual.

2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T Cabriolet First Drive

Photo by: Porsche

So with the T, he decided to really develop the car for those who still wanted a manual 911, but were not in the market for the GT3. That informed the decision to change the shift mechanism to better match the GT3’s feel, and to drop the superfluous 7th gear that only really served to make some of the gates too narrow.

The low popularity of manuals globally is a problem for Rösler. "That gets us to some problems with our suppliers because they need to supply a certain number of parts," he said.

As for more manual offerings, Rösler hinted at more special-edition models. He felt that Porsche ended production of the previous 991-generation 911 too soon, tabling special-edition models as a result. "There were lots of really cool cars late in the model cycle, for example the Speedster, and there were lots more ideas we couldn’t get to," he said. "It’s a question we’re talking about at Porsche: what’s the best cycle length?"

What do you think?

View

Comments

With the success of the likes of the Sport Classic, Dakar, and S/T, it’s easy to imagine Porsche learned its lesson. And these sorts of cars may be the best homes for a manual. Porsche is out testing what appear to be GT3 cabriolets, which seems to indicate it’s working on a new Speedster in the mold of the 991 model, which had GT3 underpinnings.

The rest of Evo’s interview with Rösler is fascinating. He explains some of the origins of the T-Hybrid powertrain of the GTS and Turbo S, noting that Porsche engineers wanted to develop the twin-turbo first, but it made more business sense to go with the single-turbo variant in the GTS. He also mentioned owning a Renaultsport Clio 200. So, a man after our own hearts.