‘it’s Not Real’: Corvette Engineers Squash Manual C8 Rumor

If you were holding out hope for a row-your-own C8 Corvette, we hate to be the bearer of bad news. Over the weekend, the Corvette’s Chief Engineer, Tony Roma, doused cold water on speculation that the mid-engined ‘Vette will see Tremec’s new six-speed manual transaxle.

“Tremec showed something at SEMA last year that I wish they wouldn’t have shown, that is not real,” Roma said in Florida during the 12 Hours of Sebring. “So, when people say, ‘But there’s one that’s available,’ there isn’t. It’s not real. We don’t have any plans to talk about a manual transmission.

“I love manual transmissions,” Roma added. “All I can say is our eight-speed DCT is tremendous, it’s awesome. The car is faster and essentially better with the transmission we make. Don’t believe GM Authority.”

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GM Authority refuted Roma’s insinuation that it fueled the rumors of a manual C8 this morning in its own coverage.

Engineer Josh Holder followed Roma’s comments, explaining that the market for three-pedal Corvettes dried near the end of the C7 era.

“We are in a for-profit business. We make Corvettes, so all you guys can enjoy the affordability and attainability of America’s supercar,” Holder said. “But one of the things that makes that true is making good business decisions. And at the end of the seventh-generation lifecycle, the penetration rate of manuals was super low. The market was voting with their wallets, and we didn’t get enough votes.”

The Drive shared Tremec’s SEMA announcement at the time, back in November. It was exciting news, but it never seemed like a shoo-in for a C8 factory option, and Tremec never claimed it was going to be. As my friend Andrew Collins wrote, “Don’t count on Chevy or Ford adding a manual transmission to the factory options list on either of the cars we just mentioned. Tremec is pitching this new six-speed directly to custom-car builders and racing teams.” Of course, that’s still a different statement than Roma’s assertion that the part “is not real,” so we’re frankly not sure what’s going on there; we have reached out to Tremec for comment and will update this story with whatever we learn.

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