Six-Speed TREMEC Manual for C8 Corvette “Is Not Real,” Per Corvette Chief In early November of last year, we ran a story detailing a new six-speed manual that could, theoretically, fit into the C8 Corvette. The prospect of a row-your-own, mid-engined Corvette certainly seems like a fun notion on paper. Since the arrival of the C8 back in 2019, there has been a small but vocal cohort of fans who lamented the loss of a manual option; the only transmission offered is an eight-speed, dual-clutch automatic. However, at the reveal of the Corvette Grand Sport over the weekend, Corvette executive chief engineer Tony Roma poured cold water on the whole ordeal. “TREMEC showed something at SEMA last year that I wish they wouldn’t have shown, that is not real,” explained Roma. His statements come via an Instagram reel posted by wheelr_, which we’ve embedded below. “We don’t have any plans to talk about a manual transmission … Our eight-speed DCT is tremendous, the car is faster and essentially better with the transmission we make.” (That eight-speed, by the way, is the TREMEC TR-9080 dual-clutch eight-speed transmission.) What’s more, despite those of us lamenting the loss of the manual in a Corvette, the trend was already pointing this way back in the days of the C7. “At the end of the seventh-generation life cycle, the penetration rate of the manual was super low,” explained Josh Holder, another one of the engineers. “The market was voting with their wallets, and we didn’t get enough votes.” You don’t build something folks won’t buy. “We are in a for-profit business,” Holder said. “We make Corvettes so that all you guys can enjoy the affordability and attainability of America’s supercar. But one of the things that makes that true is making good business decisions.” Tough, but fair. Normally, we’re right there with fans lamenting whichever car is the latest to lose the three-pedal option, but in this instance, it’s tough to muster up the same dismay. Would we love to see a manual C8? Of course. But the C8 Corvette platform has proven to be such a world-beater in multiple tiers of performance that it doesn’t make sense to continue to mourn something that was basically never on the table. The post Six-Speed TREMEC Manual for C8 Corvette “Is Not Real,” Per Corvette Chief appeared first on Hagerty Media.