Ferrari has sensationally brought back the clutch pedal, a gated shifter and the ritual of rowing a V12 engine through six forward gears after receiving thousands of customer requests.
But the 12Cilindri Manuale is not quite the mechanical throwback that it initially appears to be.
This is a limited-run, front-engined Ferrari V12 with a stunning milled aluminium shift gate, a real clutch pedal, and no steering-wheel paddles…but under the skin, the 12Cilindri still uses the same eight-speed dual-clutch transmission as the regular car.
So this is less like a return to the 1990s and much more like Ferrari threading the needle to recreate the feel of a manual while retaining 2026-level performance, which the brand says requires a dual-clutch.
So, how does the 12Cilindri Manuale work?
If you ignore the subtle reverse and drive buttons located at the back of the new centre console, everything here looks real. And it seems to feel real, as we discovered in our first static play with the ‘Manuale By-Wire’ tech in Maranello.
In layman’s terms, the new six-speed gear lever and clutch pedal are real, physical objects, but they merely send electronic commands to the eight-speed dual-clutch rather than operating a traditional mechanical transmission.
Drivers can shift through the first six gears (and reverse) using a stunning shift lever. The clutch pedal is by-wire, but it’s pretty heavy, requiring 14kg of force to move. Sensors then read your foot position and hydraulically actuate the DCT’s twin clutch packs.
The most ‘real’ aspect of the Manuale is that your inputs directly instruct the engagement of the actual clutches.
If you’re thinking that means you can stall this car…you’d be right. Get the timing right and shifts will feel smooth, but get it wrong and the car will jolt or even pack it in, but software protection will stop you from ‘money-shifting’ into first from fifth…
Why didn’t Ferrari just build a true manual?
Ferrari’s global marketing manager Emanuele Carando told Boss Hunting that the brand could have built a mechanical manual if it wanted to, but that wouldn’t fit the brand’s principle of never walking back performance.
Because an automatic dual-clutch underpins the whole system, there was no need to detune the 6.5-litre, non-turbo V12 engine that still produces 610kW of power with a 9500rpm redline.
And the 0-100km/h time remains 2.9 seconds if you let the launch control do its own thing. If you take over the shifting, you’ll be slower – but you might have more fun.
What’s this going to cost me?
Australian pricing is expected to be about $1.2 million. But this is pretty much theoretical, because Ferrari is only building 1,499 units of the 12Cilindri Manuale.
Maranello will be tapping its best customers on the shoulder to offer them an example, including a handful of Aussie VIPs who are likely to score their cars late next year.
While 25 heritage paint colours will be offered, every Manuale will be ‘Tailor Made’ and extensive interior customisation is possible. Telling the car apart from the standard version will require spotting the silver shields, pinstriped nose and discreet badgework.
Ferrari only ever sells its most special models to its most loyal clients, and there’s no chance walking into a dealership will get you a Manuale – but you’d expect pre-owned examples will come up in future years.
While the Prancing Horse will recoup some of its enormous investment costs via the circa-50 percent premium for the Manuale over the standard car, it is also looking at what other models could benefit from the by-wire system.
Frankly, we would be shocked if we didn’t see the Manuale By-Wire rolled out to other Ferrari models in the next few years as the brand looks to soak up demand for more engaging and less perfect driving experiences.
