EAG Plans to Release Manual Ferrari 458 Italia in 2020
The Ferrari 458 Italia was released unveiled at
the 2009 Frankfurt Motor. It gained recognition as one of the most
performance-oriented sports cars. In the view of many Ferrari fans, the only
thing missing in the Ferrari 458 design turns out to be the lack of a manual variant.
The thing is that Ferrari officials at some
point came up with the idea to give up on manual options and opt for more
sophisticated dual-clutch transmissions for sports cars, because of sluggish
demand for stick-shift models. Despite a strong automation trend in the
automobile industry, talented technicians from European Auto Group (EAG)
decided to undertake a risky project consisting in designing of a manual
Ferrari 458 Italia. However, the American based company plans to produce just a
limited number of the 458s.
Check out a cool teaser prepared by EAG
It is interesting to point out that this
company was the first in the world managing to embed a six-speed manual gearbox
into a Ferrari 430 Scuderia. Now the company has released a teaser video
showing its manual 458.
Manual Ferrari 430 Scuderia
Designing a manual 458 is a bit more complicated than a manual 430 Scuderia. In contrast to the standard F430 which initially had a manual option, the 458 was offered only with a DCT F1 gearbox. EAG had to order a transmission solution from an unnamed source and claims that there’s a very limited supply of these units, pointing out that it will only be able to buy about a dozen units for 458s. The company now puts the finishing touches on its manual Ferrari 458 model and plans to start production at the beginning of next year. In addition, EAG doesn’t plan to become complacent. According to EAG representatives, a ma nual Lamborghini Huracan may be the next endeavor.
