HKz
Well-Known Member
Toyota indeed knows the importance of a manual, but this is BMW handling the project and they ultimately decide what Toyota gets. Despite being on the same chassis, Mazda did not give Fiat their latest transmission featured on the ND Miata so can you imagine how reluctant BMW would be to share any tech in general with an economy brand? Sharing the ZF on the other hand is nothing to them, all automakers in the west use them. I agree, none of this is conclusive....however, if you take everything, rumor or official, into account for (none of the 3 toyota variant mules have yet to feature a manual which is still odd either way, all the news surrounding bmw giving up on dcts and manuals, the only spy shots have been in just germany & us, no manuals with any of the F series cars from Lexus) then you can see how difficult it is to imagine a manual now...and those model codes are icing on the cake. the chances that the list is fabricated and that they coincidentally happened to put auto only on the only rwd toyota in the list seems pretty slim to me.Had to register for this; The list in the OP is inconclusive at best:
1- In the BMW forums, members there have pointed out some model combinations listed in that DB extraction that does NOT exist in the market. Indicating how accurate this list is.
2- There are nearly 2x variations of G29 vs J29...what gives?
3- It doesn't list GCC, Japanese or Australian Markets variations, again incomplete list.
4- Toyota Hired a specialist just to nail down the "feel" of the manual shifts in the ZN6/ZC6, they know how important a proper manual is, in such cars.
5- The Z5 spy shots does show a manual car. Developing the shared chassis to include a manual is paid for then! (Inverse of this case: I recall an SRT engineer in an interview explaining why the Charger doesn't come with a stick shift because, unlike a challenger, the charger chassis floor was not developed with the manual in mind)
6- That list was last updated 6 months ago! around that time, IIRC, the mk5 supra was rumored as an AWD hybrid .... LOL
With the backlash from the 911 GT3's PDK only option, i think Toyota knows how vocal the community can be. Porsche now offers a manual in the GT3RS. I certainly do believe that the Z5/supra twins have larger market than GT3 or GT3RS models.
Heck even 'Hyundai' knows how important a manual is for enthusiasts, they released their i30N hothatch as manual only (and it sold so good, that it sold out in just 48 hours in Germany); my point is that there IS still a valid business case for manual sports cars.
TL;DR : this list is in no position to deny that the mk5 Supra will ever come with a manual.
As for this being a good business case for them, sadly I don't think so especially considering this was a cost savings project for both companies, not a technological showcase...I'm sure most board members for the automakers shake their head at the costs & time to develop a MT for pretty much any car. If I'm not mistaken, if an automaker wants to sell a car both with multiple trans variants (MT/AT) they have to certify each variant individually for every category whether crash safety, emissions & fuel economy tests, etc.
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