jimmyb

Much has been written about whether the mid-engine and the C8 will offer 3 pedals. Just for the heck of it, here is the C7 by year. It is notable that the highest percentage of manuals is the first year (2014) and then it drops pretty dramatically in the following years. If I remember, the C6 did the same thing (even with the Z06 intro in 2006 and 427 convertible in 2013 which were both manual only). My best guess is that the first year "early adopters" are the more hardcore Corvette folks who want a manual. The following years you get more new customers....again, that's just MY guess...

2014: 37,238 cars produced
24,088 were 6 speed automatics
64.6% automatic, 35.4% manuals (this is the 7 speed manual's BEST year)

2015 (Stingray and Z06 combined): 34,240 cars produced
23,232 were 8 speed automatics
67.8% automatic, 32.2% manual

2016 (Stingray and Z06 combined): 40,689 cars produced
31,440 were 8 speed automatics
77.2% automatics, 22.8% manual

2017 (Stingray, GS, and Z06 combined, thru 4/3/17): 29,749 cars produced
23,231 were 8 speed automatics
78% automatics, 22% manual
Make of this what you will (and please, don't turn this into a manual verses automatic debate)...these are just the facts, ma'am!
It is notable that in the C7's best year of manual purchases (2014), the 7 speed manual was just barely more than 1/3rd of sales.

Based on this, my guess is the mid-engine car will be automatic (TC or DCT) only and my hope (!) is the C8 will offer auto and manual!!!

Jimmy

thill444

Porsche is bringing manuals back to some of their track cars, so I hope GM does the right thing in the future. Based on some of the reported issues with the A8, I am not sure I would trust a GM automatic only option so not offering one would likely drive me to Porsche.

jimmyb

^^^^
I believe I read that the next gen GT3 is going to have PDK standard and the 7 speed manual as a no-cost option.
I'll see if I can find the PDK/Manual percentages on the 911. Probably doesn't matter, but the PDK is a good deal more expensive than the 8 speed auto ($3,210 verses $1,725).
Hold, please.

Corgidog1

I think the decreased demand in 16 contributed to the number of automatics as dealers tend to stock auto which are easier to sell and dealers had big inventories so not as much need to order for some people who were on the fence as to auto or manual.

jimmyb

According to this Car and Driver piece from January 2016, 85 percent of 911's sold globally have PDK's (the article says that number IS coming down, but didn't say by how much). I assume this is all the 911 variants, some of the smaller production cars (911 Turbo for instance) are available only with PDK, but that is still a BIG number of automatics.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/porsche...g-as-possible/

dvilin

Anyone's guess what the C8 will look like, the HP, the price etc. But I certainly hope they offer a manual transmission.

jimmyb

You may be right:
2015 was the intro of the Z06, which drove down the auto/manual percentage, big time. Of the 8,653 Z06's made in 2015, 51.6% were MANUALS!!!
Conversely, the 2015 Stingray was 74.4% 8 speed Automatics.

JoesC5

Don't forget that there was a hold on the 2015 Z06 A8 for quite awhile. I suspect that that made the demand of M7's higher than what would have otherwise been.

Then I think(but not real sure) that there was a hold on the M7 transmission for GS's and Z06 for awhile at the beginning of the 2017 run. That would have also affected the number of cars built with A8's vs M7's.

LT4CMG

Thanks for the data OP. I thought the M7 numbers would be higher, guess I was way off

Snowwolfe

I really enjoy my M7. But manuals are a dieing breed. Within 5 years the auto will be standard and the manual will be an option, if you can get one at all.

Supersonic 427

In the C5 era (1997-2004) the 6 speed manual was a $815-$915 option over the standard 4 speed automatic. In the C4 (1984-1996) era the early manual 4+3 and later the 6 speed manual was a $0 option over the standard 4 speed auto. tranny.

Koufax

A C7 with an manual will be my last sports car. It will be at least 5 years old and well broken in. If they stop making manuals that's really too bad, but not my problem.

I am reminded, by the way, of the video showing the very last convertible coming off the Cadillac assembly line 30 years ago. There would never be another convertible, they said, because of lack of demand.

And what is the fastest growing segment of the music business? Vinyl records.

Yaupon

OP, thanks for sharing "just the facts." Nice read.

roadbike56

Twenty best cars with a manual transmission (a little dated). A decade or so ago, who would have thought Cadillac would be on this list.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...-transmission/

jimmie jam

I totaled the A8 numbers last week for a "A8 problem" thread. The point was to show that an overwhelming amount of A8's have been delivered by Chevy in relationship to the troubled TC's that seem to be a very small number when looking at the total of nearly 80,000 A8's. Manual transmissions are in the minority and have been. Just to put things in perspective...FWIW.

RedC7AZ

Comparing only Forum data to the total number of A8 produced is misleading.

The Forum represents only a tiny fraction of C7 owners.

Therefore, the number of owners on the Forum with A8 TC issues represents only a tiny fraction of the total number of owners with A8 TC issues.



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jimmie jam

That was my point.....

RedC7AZ

​​​​​​It seemed like your point was to compare the number of A8 TC issues identified on the forum to the overall number of A8 produced.

If so, that is an inaccurate comparison.

​​​​​​

Judgment Day

The way I see it, the national avg in this country is (I believe) anywhere between 3% - 5% for manual transmission vehicles. Totality of C7 production numbers based on jimmyb's stats is around 30% which is significantly higher than the national average. Even at it's lowest, numbers are still at a huge ratio advantage.

That alone should warrant continued production of this transmission. I honestly wouldn't get too worried unless the C8 doesn't exceed 15% in sales or production on its debut year in the US.

kaplana08

If Chevy stops making manuals. Think of the value of an m7 car. Will go way up. Like anything hard to find vaue skyrockets