The most controversial part about the Corvette going mid-engine was that it also dropped the option for a manual gearbox. From 1955 to the end of C7 production in 2019, you could get a shift-it-yourself transmission (the first two years of Corvette only came with a two-speed Powerglide automatic). By the time the C7 came around, the manual had morphed into a funky seven-speed unit, which was available on everything from the base Stingray all the way to the 755-horsepower ZR1.
That all changed in 2020, when Chevy decided it would cost too much money to engineer a manual option for the C8. Instead, it went all in on an eight-speed dual-clutch unit from Tremec, which has been the sole transmission for the entire Corvette lineup for the past five years.
At the time, not fronting the cash to develop a manual gearbox made sense. It would’ve cost a bunch to develop, and it would’ve forced interior designers to rework the entire layout of the center console. Back in 2019, then lead Corvette engineer Tadge Juechter told Motor Authority there would be no chance of the manual’s return:
Juechter said a manual-equipped Corvette wouldn’t sell well enough to make it worth a supplier’s effort to develop.
“We couldn’t find anybody honestly who’d be willing to do it. Because just like the automatic, the DCT, it would have to be a bespoke manual,” Juechter said. “It’s low volume, very expensive. The reason is it’s a low-volume industry. That industry is dying—building manual transmissions.”
Apparently, the take-rate for manuals in the Corvette has plummeted to about 15 percent now, according to Juechter.
“Every year it goes down, down, down, down,” he said.
Since then, there’s been a bit of a manual resurgence in the automotive space. Cars I never expected to get stick shifts— the Toyota Supra and the BMW Z4 —now offer manual options due to customer demand, with the majority of buyers now opting for three pedals in those cars. The Nissan Z Nismo, which debuted without a stick, eventually got one due to customer outcry. At the very top end of the market, Pagani has also seen a resurgence in manual demand, with 70 percent of Utopia customers opting for the seven-speed gated manual gearbox over the automatic.
While a spokesperson confirmed to me Chevy has no intention of offering anything other than a dual-clutch for the C8, it’s just become far easier for you to pull off the swap yourself. Tremec, the transmission designer behind the C8’s TR-9080 dual-clutch, has just revealed a new six-speed manual unit for the aftermarket that uses largely the same shape and utilizes the same exact mounting points. Theoretically, it should make manual-swapping a C8 way easier.
Tremec doesn’t explicitly say anything about its new six-speed transaxle fitting into a C8, but implies it in its news release:
The TREMEC manual 6-speed transaxle maintains the TR-9080 DCT unit’s packaging envelope and mounting points to help builders design things around the transaxle for optimal suspension fitment and travel maximum handling capability.
[…]
TREMEC designed the transmission to utilize the TR-9080 DCT mounting points and a similar case profile. This allows builders to use already available factory Corvette components for easier installation.
Like most transaxles, this six-speed is designed to use a cable shifter. This setup is pretty common on a bunch of cars, including most modern stuff from the VW Group, including Porsche. It requires two cables to be run from the shifter to the mechanism on the side of the gearbox to select gears. This means there doesn’t have to be any solid mechanical connection from the cabin to the back of the car, where the transaxle sits.
Tremec’s unit also comes standard with a limited-slip differential, meaning you’ll have no trouble laying down 11s in whatever you throw this thing into. The company says it can handle up to 1,000 horsepower and 800 pound-feet of torque, with a maximum rev limit of 8,600 rpm. Going by the numbers alone, it should have no problem handling the power from every C8 short of the ZR1 and ZR1X.
Of course, manual-swapping a new Corvette isn’t as simple as dropping a five-speed into a ’60s Camaro. Sure, Tremec’s unit is designed to fit, so you won’t have to do much cutting to get it into the engine bay. But the C8 was never designed to accommodate a shifter and a third pedal, which means you’ll have to get very creative in rearranging the center console and pedal area to get those things to fit.
Then there’s the electronics of it all. The C8, being a new car, runs on a CAN bus electrical system, which means all of the car’s systems, including stuff like the engine, the transmission, the traction control, and the infotainment system, all talk to each other. If one part of that system—say, the dual-clutch—goes missing, it’s a lot tougher to get the car to function properly without a lot of coding knowledge. That’s probably the real reason why no one’s been able to do it yet without essentially rebuilding the car from scratch with custom parts like this guy:
Still, I have faith in the aftermarket. It’s worked miracles before, and considering the popularity of the Corvette, I only think it’s a matter of time until this gearbox ends up in a C8. Some might argue pro drifter Matt Field beat everyone to the first manual C8 with his fully gutted, custom 427-powered C8 (shown above). While that car has a third pedal, it’s a sequentially shifted transmission, with no H pattern. Purists will argue the first manual doesn’t exist yet, and I tend to agree. So there’s still time to make history.
Top graphic images: GM; Bring a Trailer
Face it, old guys in jorts and Hawaiian shirts don’t want to shift.
“ While that car has a third pedal, it’s a sequentially shifted transmission, with no H pattern. Purists will argue the first manual doesn’t exist yet, and I tend to agree.”
So motorcycles don’t have manual gears?
Weird opinion.
Tremec: Call.
I know this article is more focused on the corvette, but pretty sure the same Tremec 9080 DCT is used in the new Mustang GTD. So what I am thinking is that Ford states the target for the current GTD is the 911 GT3rs which are both DCT. Now Ford could offer a 911 GT3 equivalent by using this manual in the GTD as a sub model.
EVs killing gas cars on speed and acceleration killed the “DCT is faster”
argument.
If one has a gas car they already don’t have the fastest kind of car, so they might as well go all the way on character and get stick.
However, it is becoming difficult to support throughout the ecosystem. I have seen multiple porters and mechanics not able to drive manual.
I mean I’ve truly gone this way – no reason to buy a gas car with an auto. My daily is now and EV, as is my wife’s and I can continue to love my gas cars with manuals!
I enjoy talking smack to dealer lot porters who don’t know how to drive stick – “It’s OK little buddy, just go ahead and get a grown-up who knows how to drive a standard transmission.”
There was a rather amusing/saddening conversation with the Honda dealer when I bought my Civic a few years ago. They had a 2016 with a manual that, ten years ago, I’d have bought without thinking twice. When informed I couldn’t drive it, I got the “oh we can teach you; we require everyone here to learn to drive manuals” before explaining the knee situation and getting an “oh god, in this traffic? No manual for you. Let me see what else we have on the lot.”
There is hope. Some places are trying to keep it alive.
Given how many automatics out there with more gears than manuals and how big everything has gotten. I will be fine with an automatic in just about everything now. I would still like a little manual hot hatch for funzies.
This sounds like a project that some fancy-pants custom shop with bottomless pockets would tackle just to prove that it can be done, and then show it at SEMA, where it will find half a dozen buyers who are willing to pay the $20k price tag for the work.
I can’t imagine anyone shoe-horning a gated shifter into the C8 interior without basically gutting it. Feels to me like it would be targeting Corvette and Corvette-powered race builds. It would be neat if it turns out that this is a precursor to an official C8 manual option though.
What’s the average age for a buyer of a new Corvette? AI says about 60, but coming down since the C8 was introduced. It also says it’s the “#1 sports car for people under 35” but honestly, that seems a bit fishy to me. Google says Chevrolet sold about 33,000 Corvettes last year, and IMO a lot of those are still being sold to the older guys (my age and older) who have the cash and are generally OK with an automatic transmission. I also gotta imagine that some other sportscar/sporty car sold at least 33K units last year, but maybe not?
I dunno. I had a ’69 convertible when I was 20ish, and it was fun, but 40 years later, I’m not really hanking for another one.
Quick Google for 911 sales 2024 shows just under 18K 911s sold last year, I know the Supra didn’t beat that. Tried to find Miata numbers but global figures are elusive, in the US they seem to have sold about 8K for the year.
So their volume does seem to match the headline if one can infer that other sports cars sold less overall.
Yah, I came up with about 8K for the Miata too last year. I guess the ‘vette sold the most, but the most under 35 years old? Maybe it’s so, but every time I see a C8 it’s got a guy a fair bit older than me behind the wheel, and I’m no spring chicken.
I’m a huge fan of manual transmissions, and have so far only owned manual cars. While many cars could be improved by a stick, I understand why they aren’t offered with one. People, especially in the US, just don’t want one. I get it, I know I’m in the minority. That’s fine.
That said, I’ve driven a C8 many times and never once found myself wishing for a third pedal. I can’t say why, specifically. It’s a damn good automatic transmission for sure. Maybe it’s because the revs build almost faster than I can think, maybe because it’s so damn hard to see out of one that I don’t mind having one less thing to do. It doesn’t help that my dad’s C8 is a track car with a racing seat that basically sits on the floor.
That said, I would love to see them offer it as a manual, and would love to get behind the wheel of one. Maybe it would improve the driving experience, and I just don’t know it yet!
Just FYI, bringing up BMW manual options isn’t an equivalent comparison to corvettes problems
The BMW manual trans design is about 20 years old now, so other than beefing up the clutch and flywheel they didn’t have to invest much funding to make the latest (lastest) M/Z/Supra options
Not gonna happen for the C8, but maybe the C9?!?!
The C8’s ECM is encrypted. Unless you’re an aftermarket supplier that’s cozy with GM, there’s no modifying the electronics.
There’s a guy on youtube that put a Chevy big block V8 into a C8. He had to custom make cylinder heads with ports for direct injection because the engine has to appear 100% stock to the ECM.
Or you know, since it’s all custom, a custom ECM.
Yeah, if you’re ditching the DCT, that would make sense. The big block build had to work with the DCT.
I thought the Vette’s ECM was cracked already.
We really need more consumer-friendly Right-to-Repair laws out there. Car makers get X number of years and after that, they need to open up their black box at least a little.
One small quibble: the OG Corvettes — ’53 through ’55 — were available only with a two-speed P-Glide. Pretty sure the first three-speed manual came in ’56, with a four-speed available a year later.
Commenter below says manuals were available in ’55 as well. I may be wrong. Not the first time.
Pedantic note: the first manual Corvette wasn’t available until 1955. 1953 and ’54 cars all had the two-speed (!) Powerglide automatic.
You’re so right! Forgot about the two-speed, thank you for the heads-up
Yeah, pretty astonishing about the two-speed Powerglide. Even for a straight-line sports car it doesn’t make a lot of sense; for drag racing or simple cruising, maybe, but for an ostensible sports car? Go figure…
In the 1981 film King of the Mountain which has two plotlines, one centered around the Mulholland Drive street racing scene (& the other one around struggling musicians), there’s a character, Cal, played by Dennis Hopper, that was based on a real-life racer who dominated Mulholland Drive with a highly tuned ’66 Corvette in the 60s & 70s; as per a comment by Skid on imcdb.org:
“Dennis Hopper’s character was modeled on Charles “Crazy Charlie” Woit, an actual Mulholland Drive street racer at the time the movie was made. Charlie was something of a legend on Mulholland, and there are stories of him driving balls-out on the road one-handed with a beer in the other hand, and even racing at night with no headlights because he knew the road so well. How much of this is truth and how much is legend is hard to say, but clearly he was a very formidable driver. He finally died in a crash in 1982 – but not on Mulholland.
The real Crazy Charlie drove a 1966 Stingray with a 427 and (surprisingly) a Powerglide automatic. It was metallic blue (probably Nassau or Trophy blue) with grey primer on the fenders and hood, no bumpers, wide wheel flares, and a full rollcage. It had a Dick Guldstrand suspension, 13 inch wide wheels on Goodyear Blue Streak tires, and black powder-coated side pipes that everyone agrees were EXTREMELY loud.”
https://imcdb.org/movie_82619-King-of-the-Mountain.html
Not really that astonishing considering the boat anchor it was originally bolted to. The Corvette really was not in any way a sports car initially, just a “sporty” personal luxury car.
Yeah, hence the qualifying “ostensible.”
After all, in 1953 nobody was really cross-shopping Corvettes and MG TDs, lol.
That would certainly be an amusing compare and contrast. Or given relative pricing, Corvettes and Jag XK-120s? They were just about the same price, and IIRC the Jag was actually slightly cheaper with no options! The mind boggles.
“This means there doesn’t have to be any solid mechanical connection from the cabin to the back of the car, where the transaxle sits.”
So does that mean chromed manual shifter gate kits are coming to Corvettes near you?
Tremec spending the time and engineering effort to design this can’t possibly be cost-effective for just a few swaps right?
Right, GM?
That’s my thought, why would they just design this on spec? Sure GM has been involved at some level even if they can’t say anything about it publicly, yet.
The thing that gives me pause is they just redesigned the C8 interior for 2026, which would seems like it would have been the ideal time to start offering the stick. Maybe there’s provisions in the new design to allow it later?
I’ve been saying for a while that GM is probably going to release one last C8 variant towards the end of the model run, most likely called the Zora. I’m guessing it’ll basically be a manual Z06 with a lot of ZR1 components.
The Zora rumors I heard were always what became the ZR1X, but what you describe sounds like peak Corvette to me, so I hope you’re right.
It certainly would be on-brand for GM to final get a car right, then kill it.
They wouldn’t really be killing anything. The Zora I made up in my head would, theoretically, just be the ultimate variant of the current C8 generation before the C9 takes over.
You give GM too much credit. 🙂
I absolutely agree that GM has a terrible habit of killing good cars just when they’ve got them right, but we’re just talking about a generation change in the Corvette nameplate, not an outright cancellation. It’s like saying Porsche killed the 911 when they introduced the 992 generation.
GM has almost killed the Corvette a number of times. And IMHO, moving it to a pure EV is the same as killing it, though perhaps that isn’t the plan for the C9 (anymore).
I would say that the “911” died with the 996.
I hope so. I mean, I can’t afford a C8 and don’t expect to ever be able to, but as someone who has always bought manuals I hope the folks who can afford a C8 and want a manual will have that option some day.
I think if we see a C8 with this manual out and running in a short time frame, it’s a good indicator that GM is involved behind the scenes. I can’t imagine the software would have a quick solution without their help (unless someone basically gutted it all and started over). If it comes out through a well known GM collaborator, this could even be a backdoor way for GM to get them out in small numbers without going through all the OEM testing and validation and EPA. I don’t know how legally viable that is, but if it is, that would be pretty clever way to do it on the cheap with minimal liability (assuming it would have some effect on warranty if not completely voiding it).
I know, that was my thought too. GM says they couldn’t convince a supplier to build such a transmission at a reasonable price, but now Tremec has built one just for fun? Just to tempt other companies into buying it for future product? Seems a bit odd
Exactly. There has to be a reason for this. I honestly think this is more for any upcoming C9 Corvettes than for any aftermarket conversions for the C8.