The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8Chevrolet The C8 Corvette is changing the game in a lot of ways for Chevrolet: it is, of course, the first mid-engined sports car its ever built. And weve now learned it is, unfortunately, the brands first sports car to forego a staple of the segment: the manual transmission.In a conversation with Motor Authority at the cars reveal, lead engineer Tadge Juechter simply said No when asked if the manual transmission would make an appearance in the C8.We couldnt find anybody honestly whod be willing to do it. Because just like the automatic, the DCT, it would have to be a bespoke manual, Juechter said.Its low volume, very expensive. The reason is its a low-volume industry. That industry is dying building manual transmissions.The numbers have changed vastly from when the Corvette first appeared on the scene, he said; now only 15 per cent of Corvette buyers choose the manual. Every year it goes down, down, down, down, Juechter lamented. Ouch. So not only will people not buy them, Chevrolet cant even get anybody to build them one at a decent cost, but it makes sense considering the requirements the C8 had for a transmission.According to Jeuchter, there isnt much room behind the driver to fit the engine, let alone the transmission, so it had to be compact. The engine is already dry-sumped to give it a small oil pan, and all the cooling devices associated with the engine also needed a place to go. Also, there had to be a place for the owners golf clubs, and thats more important than any performance options.Making the engine anything but an automatic posed too many problems for the team, so the manual was not even considered, marking the end of the row-your-own Corvette. Will you miss
Origin: The Corvette C8 will never get a manual because no one buys them: engineer