Ferrari Brings Back The Gear Lever With 12Cilindri Manuale, Limited To 1,499 Units

Ferrari has unveiled the 12Cilindri Manuale, a limited-edition version of its V12 grand tourer that reintroduces manual gear-shifting through a system engineered entirely in-house. Revealed in Maranello on 3 July, the car will be built in a run of 1,499 units — a figure that nods to the 1,499cc displacement of Ferrari's first V12 engine from 1947.

The headline change is what Ferrari calls its Manuale by-wire system: a gear lever and a clutch-by-wire pedal that work alongside the existing 8-speed dual-clutch transmission, rather than replacing it. Move the lever and press the clutch, and sensors translate that mechanical input into electronic signals that operate the DCT hardware underneath. Drivers can also leave the car in automatic mode when a manual workout is not required.

The idea is significant chiefly because it goes against the direction the entire performance-car industry has taken. Steering wheel paddle-shifters have replaced manual boxes across nearly every segment, valued for outright speed of shifting. Ferrari has now removed the paddles altogether from this variant — the first time it has done so on a production car in years — arguing that involvement, not lap-time efficiency, is the point. The system can be made to jerk or even stall the engine if the clutch is mistimed, deliberately replicating the imperfections of a mechanical gearbox rather than smoothing them away.

Underneath the new hardware sits the standard 12Cilindri's naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12, producing 830 cv and revving to 9,500 rpm, with a claimed 0-100 km/h time of 2.9 seconds and a top speed beyond 340 km/h. Ferrari says the collaboration that produced the mechanism also drew on engineering work from its Hypersail marine project, an unusual crossover for a road-car component.

Design touches specific to the Manuale include a reworked centre console and gear gate, a pinstripe finish referencing the 365 GTB4, forged wheels in four finishes, and access to Ferrari's Tailor Made personalisation programme, through which buyers can specify bespoke leather, colour and trim combinations. A seven-year maintenance package, standard across Ferrari's range, also applies.

For India, where Ferrari sells through its dealerships in Mumbai and the Delhi-NCR region, such special series typically arrive well after the global unveiling, imported as fully built units and priced accordingly once duties are applied. Ferrari has not detailed pricing or market-wise allocation for the 12Cilindri Manuale, but limited-run models with this degree of customisation have historically found ready buyers among India's small but growing base of serious collectors, for whom mechanical distinctiveness — rather than outright performance — is increasingly the draw.