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Fourteen years after the 599 GTB Fiorano, Ferrari has put a clutch pedal and an open gate back into a front-engined V12 — then wired both of them to a dual-clutch gearbox.
Ferrari unveiled the 12Cilindri Manuale at Maranello on July 3, 2026. It is a limited-edition version of the 12Cilindri grand tourer, and the first new Ferrari in over a decade with a physical gated shifter and a clutch pedal.
It is also the most argued-about Ferrari of the year — because the gearbox underneath is not a manual at all.
The Ferrari 12Cilindri Manuale uses a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 producing 819 hp at 9,250 rpm and 500 lb-ft of torque at 7,250 rpm, with a 9,500 rpm redline. It reaches 62 mph in 2.9 seconds and tops out at 211 mph.
No — not mechanically. There is a real clutch pedal and a real gated shifter, but no mechanical linkage to the engine. Sensors read the driver’s inputs and command the same eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox as the standard 12Cilindri. Ferrari calls the system Manuale By-Wire.
Whether that counts as a manual is a fair argument, and it is the one every enthusiast is having. Our position: the mechanism is synthetic, the demand it places on the driver is not.
Ferrari’s reasoning is that a conventional gearbox can no longer cope with a 9,500 rpm V12. Rather than detune the engine to suit the transmission, they kept the engine and rebuilt the interface.
— Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale
Mechanically, almost nothing changes. The Manuale carries over the standard 12Cilindri’s engine, gearbox hardware, chassis and performance figures. What changes is the driver interface, the production cap, and the price — the Manuale costs roughly 48% more in Italy.
| 12Cilindri | Manuale | |
|---|---|---|
| Shifter | Paddles | Gate + paddles |
| Clutch pedal | None | Yes |
| Can stall | No | Yes |
| Gears by hand | All 8 | 1st – 6th |
| Production | Series | 1,499 |
| From (Italy) | €400,000 | €590,000 |
Identical on both cars: 6.5L V12, 819 hp, 500 lb-ft, 2.9 sec to 62 mph, 211 mph top speed.
An open-top Manuale has not been announced. If you want a roof that disappears, the 12Cilindri Spider remains paddle-shift only.
Ferrari has confirmed a starting price of €590,000 in Italy before options — roughly $675,000 at current exchange rates. Official US pricing has not been announced. Industry estimates place the American figure closer to $750,000, a premium of about 50% over the standard 12Cilindri.
Two caveats before anchoring on those numbers. Italian list prices include taxes that do not apply in the United States, so a direct conversion is not a forecast. And on a car of this kind, Tailor Made specification routinely adds a six-figure sum on top of list.
Ferrari will build exactly 1,499 examples worldwide. Not a round number, and not an accident: Ferrari’s first V12, the Colombo engine of 1947, displaced 1,499cc.
Ferrari does not attach heritage numbers to cars it considers ordinary. And 1,499 against global demand for a naturally aspirated V12 with three pedals is not a large number.
The Manuale keeps the standard car’s bodywork, including the black visor band across the nose that quotes the late-1960s 365 GTB/4 “Daytona.”
Inside, the changes concentrate on the console: the gate, the polished steel knob, the clutch pedal. Leather and Alcantara are specified through Tailor Made, which for this car opens up 25 historic Ferrari colours — Rosso Rubino, Rosso Dino, Blu Pozzi and Nero Daytona among them.
The last front-engined V12 Ferrari with a gated manual was the 599 GTB Fiorano, the car the F12 replaced in 2012. The last manual Ferrari of any kind was the California, also 2012. That makes the Manuale the first three-pedal Ferrari in fourteen years.
Manual take-up collapsed long before Ferrari stopped offering it. Only a small fraction of 599 GTBs left Maranello with three pedals. Those cars now trade at a steep premium over their paddle-shift equivalents. The same pattern holds across the 360 and F430 generations.
The Manuale inverts that. For the first time, the manual is the limited edition and the paddles are the volume car.
Allocations for limited-series Ferraris are assigned by Maranello to individual dealers, who place them with clients. Cars are not sold first-come, first-served. Ownership history and an established dealer relationship decide who gets one.
With 1,499 cars worldwide, demand will exceed supply. If you are not already known to an official dealer, become known to one now — not when US allocations are announced.
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No. It has a genuine clutch pedal and gated shifter, but no mechanical linkage. Ferrari’s Manuale By-Wire system reads both inputs electronically and commands an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox. The car can still stall and still requires correct clutch and shift technique.
1,499 units worldwide. The figure references the 1,499cc displacement of Ferrari’s first V12 engine from 1947.
€590,000 in Italy before options, approximately $675,000 by direct conversion. US pricing has not been confirmed; industry estimates suggest around $750,000.
0–62 mph in 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 211 mph — identical to the standard 12Cilindri. Both figures are achieved in automatic mode, since manual shifts cannot match the dual-clutch gearbox and seventh and eighth gears are not accessible through the gate.
Yes. Ferrari deliberately retained stalling behaviour. Starting the car with the clutch depressed engages manual mode; starting on the brake pedal alone leaves it in automatic.
The Ferrari California, discontinued in 2012. The last front-engined V12 with a gated manual was the 599 GTB Fiorano, also ending in 2012.
European deliveries begin in the first quarter of 2027. US deliveries are expected to follow; Ferrari has not confirmed a date.
Allocations are placed by dealers with known clients, not sold first-come, first-served. US allocations have not been announced.
