Report: Ford hanging with manuals for all of its RS cars
Ford’s making a huge impression with their new high-performance branch, Ford Performance, which also correlates with their RS brand. The results include cars like the Ford Focus RS, recently revealed for the world to see, and on top of that, rumors have been floating around for a possible Fiesta RS to sit above the Fiesta ST as well.
So all in all, the takeaway from the establishment of Ford Performance, their confirmation of 12 new vehicles by 2020, and the arrival of the new Focus RS, all points to more RS of Ford Performance models in the future.
That said, speaking with Ford’s product chief, Raj Nair, AutoCar learned that Ford is adamant about keeping the manual transmission alive.
“All our current research says that customers really like these kinds of cars to have a manual gearbox,” Nair said in the interview with the publication. “We’ll keep looking at market trends, and of course we’ll give customers what they want, but for now the manual stays.”
This is a bit of a fresh relief in the automobile climate today, where it seems the manual transmission is destined to obsolescence due to serious advancements with automatic transmission. But not all of Ford Performance’s offerings get the choice of a manual, for instance, the new Ford GT gets a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic for the sake of shifting speed and maximizing performance, while the F150 Raptor gets an all-new 10-speed automatic. Either way, Ford’s doing the right thing and they’re certainly a brand to keep an eye on, especially if you’re a driver.
Source: AutoCar