The Porsche 911 is the quintessential enthusiast car and all about pure driving pleasure. So, the idea of not being able to get it with a stick seems outrageous, but the German automaker did axe the manual on three of its 911 variants in 2025. The base Carrera, its S version, and the GTS were all stripped of their manual shifters at the time, which caused quite a bit of upset among gearheads and dedicated P-car aficionados.
Not all hope was lost, though, because Porsche later announced it’ll bring the manual option back to the 992.2 Carrera S for the 2027 model year. That privilege adds a cool $8,550 to the coupe’s sticker price, but this shouldn’t be too much of an issue when you’re already spending north of $150,000. As for the cabrio, it can be equipped with a shift stick in exchange for approximately $11,000.
The Manual’s Comeback Is Only Partial, At Least For Now
2027 Porsche 911 Carrera S with MT Package – Aubergine ExteriorPorsche
It was great to hear of the manual’s return on the Carrera S as the MT Package, which also includes rear-axle steering, center-lock wheels, and PASM Sport suspension. The GTS is a very different story, however, having received a T-Hybrid powertrain as part of Porsche’s 992.2 mid-cycle refresh.
Here’s the thing, though. That hybrid configuration simply isn’t compatible with the manufacturer’s juicy six-speed manual transmission. At this year’s Monterey Car Week, The Drive sat down with Porsche Cars North America CEO Timo Resch and gained some valuable insight on the matter. “So, the technology setup that we have in place right now and a manual transmission… they are not compatible,” Resch explained. But then he went on to give us a glimmer of hope.
Will The GTS Get A Shift Knob In The Future?
2025 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS CabrioletPorsche
“That’s something that we see right now,” said Resch. “But at the same time, it’s great to have an engineering team in Weissach that never stops thinking and has a lot of great ideas.” While this seems like a clear hint at what the future has in store for Porsche’s hybrid GTS, Resch wasn’t done getting our hopes up.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point they come up with a solution,” he told The Drive, “but it probably will not be a combination that you see here.” So, although he hasn’t overtly confirmed how the stick might be integrated into the T-Hybrid powertrain or when it will happen, we have faith that a manual GTS is in the cards somewhere down the road.
It remains to be seen whether it will arrive on a special-edition model or something like the MT Package currently offered on the Carrera S. And development is sure to take a while since Porsche’s engineers are basically starting from scratch, so don’t expect the stick to arrive on the GTS until later on in the 992.2’s lifespan (at the earliest).
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Porsche’s commitment to keep the manual transmission alive is great news in an age when its total extinction seems inevitable. Imagine if the manual had not returned on the S, or if there were no plans to make it work on the hybrid GTS. This would have signaled that even a performance brand like Porsche can no longer justify producing manual cars, which might have triggered a domino effect and brought the manual transmission one step closer to its demise. Thankfully, things didn’t turn out that way.
Source: The Drive
