Mercedes-AMG GT May Get a Manual Transmission, But Not From The Factory
European Auto Group, the automotive tuning
company from San Antonio, Texas, has already amazed the automotive world with
its unique transmission swap projects (such as 2020 Toyota Supra and Ferrari
430 Scuderia)
. Not long ago the manual Supra has become a sensation at the SEMA
2020 and the Philly Auto Show 2020.
2020 manual Supra at the Philly Auto Show 2020
EAG has received numerous orders on swap
services from owners of factory-made automatic Supras, but the company is
already considering new opportunities to expand the range of models for a
manual conversion. Auto enthusiasts have long been calling for the Shelby GT500
and the C8 Chevrolet Corvette and those projects will certainly come to
fruition in the future.
Check out the world's
FIRST manual Ferrari 430 Scuderia in action
But Art Bartosik, the head of EAG, has recently
announced that his team plans to embark on the manual swap for the Mercedes-AMG
GT. The factory-made Mercedes-AMG GT comes with a seven-speed DCT transmission
only. Since Mercedes never provided the manual option for this model, the EAG
team sees a great potential in this project. Actually, this swap task is
simplified by the fact that there's another car model on the market, namely the
2020 Aston Martin Vantage AMR, with the same engine as the GT that is sold with
a manual transmission option.
Mercedes-AMG GT
The Vantage AMR comes with the 7-speed manual
gearbox provided by Graziano. Thus it is quite feasible to utilize this 7-speed
unit in the AMG GT model as this transmission will perfectly fit the engine.
Aston Martin Vantage AMR
However, it can hardly be said that this
transmission swap will be a piece of cake for the EAG team. According to Mr.
Bartosik, the availability of some ready-made shift linkages simplifies the
task, but still they will need to utilize custom components and to implement
some changes to the drive shaft, console, pedals, wiring, and software. The
team of professionals from EAG has enough experience and the necessary skills
and know-hows to get the job done.
It is not a secret that spare parts for Aston Martin are quite pricy so it will certainly affect the final price of the AMG GT swap. It is known that the price for the Graziano-made transmission unit costs and after adding necessary elements and labor, the final swap price will reach approximately $55,000. This project is still at its early stage but the company is ready to take orders to see how many customers would be interested.
