Why Can’t You Get Your $300,000 Supercar With a Stick Shift?
No one requests a manual McLaren. There’s a reason why.
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In 2012 McLaren put something on the Pebble Beach concours that no one had seen before: the McLaren X-1. Made for a particular “Middle Eastern person of power,” according to a McLaren spokesman, the car came with Citroën-inspired spats over the rear wheels, a nickel-plated air-brake wing, and a unique carbon fiber monocoque like the one found in the blistering fast MP4-12C.
What it didn’t come with was a stick-shift gear box. Mr. Middle East didn’t even ask for one.