Lamborghini commits to automatic-only future as manual gearbox fades

Lamborghini has closed the door on manual gearboxes entirely, according to Federico Foschini, the Italian automaker's Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, in an interview with Road & Track published this week. The Sant'Agata manufacturer will not offer a simulated manual option—a path Ferrari has explored—for any upcoming model. The decision reflects the racing pedigree that shapes Lamborghini's engineering philosophy: the company builds production cars that mirror the technology found in its race programme, where dual-clutch automatics have long been standard.

The move underscores a broader shift across high-performance manufacturing. Road & Track and Car and Driver report that manual transmissions have become vanishingly rare among supercar builders worldwide, with fewer than 30 powerful vehicles available from the factory with a traditional manual gearbox. Ferrari, Lamborghini's closest rival in the Motor Valley, has also opted for lightning-quick dual-clutch systems across nearly all its lineup, a trend that extends to the newly unveiled Luce electric vehicle.

For Emilia-Romagna's engineering sector, the decision reflects a wider industrial reality: the region's supercars—Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Ducati motorcycles—are locked in a technological race where transmission speed and precision matter more to buyers and to competition than the tactile experience of a clutch pedal. The shift also signals how Motor Valley producers are betting their future on automated systems and electrification, even as nostalgia for manual driving persists among enthusiasts in international markets.