Lamborghini won't release a manual gearbox anytime soon
Lamborghini won8217t releasing manual gearboxes anytime soon. After Ferrari's 12Cilindri Manuale, Sant'Agata has no plans for a similar model. Its technology strategy is driven by motorsports, pushing hybridization and automatic paddle-shift gearboxes instead of a traditional or simulated stick for its supercars.
Key Takeaways
- Lamborghini has no near-term plans for a manual or Manuale-style gearbox after Ferrari's reveal.
- The brand's tech roadmap is shaped by motorsports, not niche stick-shift demand.
- Hybridization and paddle-shift automatics remain the performance priority.
- Leadership still sees enthusiast interest in manuals as a limited opportunity, not the trend.
- Off-road Sterrato-style derivatives remain more aligned with Lamborghini's product path than a manual.
The news lands days after Ferrari unveiled the 12Cilindri Manuale, a V-12 grand tourer with a dual-clutch setup and a new "Manuale-by-Wire" system that lets drivers row gears like a stick. Some Lamborghini fans hoped Sant'Agata would answer in kind. It will not—at least not soon.
For collectors who track luxury living alongside performance machines, that stance also fits a broader premium mindset seen across luxury real estate and dream homes: technology choices follow the brand's core identity, not every niche request.
Why won't Lamborghini offer a manual soon?
Chief marketing and sales officer Federico Foschini says there are currently no plans to put a similar transmission in a Lamborghini supercar. He acknowledges a few customers still love that kind of shifting and calls it an "opportunity." He is clearer on the bigger picture: it is not the trend.
In his view, the performance and driving engagement Lamborghini wants cannot come from that gearbox type. The company's road cars echo its race cars. That means hybridization and automatic gearboxes with steering-wheel paddle shifters.
How does motorsports shape Lamborghini's gearbox strategy?
Robb Report notes that Lamborghini's technology strategy is driven by its motorsports division. Racing favors electrified power and paddle-actuated automatics. Because road-car tech tracks that path, a factory manual—or even a simulated stick—is an unlikely priority now.
That motorsports tether also explains why Ferrari's limited-series Manuale does not automatically unlock a matching Lamborghini program. One marque's special-series experiment is not Sant'Agata's product roadmap.
What is Lamborghini prioritizing instead of a stick shift?
Beyond ruling out a near-term manual, Foschini's comments point to hybridization and paddle-shift automatics as the way forward. The brand also sounds more open to another Sterrato-style idea than to a three-pedal supercar. Earlier this decade, Lamborghini offered a lifted, all-wheel-drive Huracán Sterrato with all-terrain tires.
He flagged the Huracán's successor, the hybrid V-8 Temerario, as an ideal candidate for that off-road treatment. For buyers waiting on a gated Lambo, the message is blunt: do not expect a manual release anytime soon.