The most talked-about new supercars of 2026 share something old-fashioned: a clutch pedal. Here's what's real and what's simulated, what they cost, how few will be built, and what the market says analog cars are worth.
For a decade, the fastest cars in the world moved away from the clutch pedal. Dual-clutch gearboxes were quicker, hybrids needed them, and the manual became something you bought in a Porsche GT3 Touring or not at all. In 2026 that flipped at the very top of the market. Gordon Murray, McLaren, Ferrari and the Italian start-up Kimera have all shown new cars with a gear lever and three pedals, and they're asking some of the highest prices in the business for them.
They aren't all the same thing. Some are true manuals, one is a clever simulation, and at least one high-profile newcomer skips the manual altogether. Here's how they compare, and what our market data says about what a manual is worth.
Revealed at The Quail during Monterey Car Week on August 14, the Gordon Murray S1 is a road-focused version of last year's S1 LM. It has a 4.2-liter naturally aspirated Cosworth V12 making up to 690 metric horsepower at 12,100 rpm, a six-speed manual with a tall touring sixth gear, a central driving seat with a passenger on each side, and every body panel redesigned. Gordon Murray says the target weight is below the T.50's. Production is 64 cars, each specified by its owner. The price hasn't been disclosed.
This is a car you could drive along the coast from Los Angeles to Monterey in real comfort, still enjoying every gearshift, every corner, and every note of the V12.
— Gordon Murray, Gordon Murray Automotive release
McLaren used the same week to show the McL 6GT, a carbon-bodied mid-engined concept with a V8 and a six-speed manual driving the rear wheels. MotorTrend calls it the first manual McLaren since the F1 and reports a production version is due in 2028. evo says it's planned as a limited run, and that the V8 and manual gearbox are among the two new engine families McLaren will now build in-house. No displacement, power or price yet.
Ferrari's answer, shown on July 3, is the most debated. The 12Cilindri Manuale brings back the famous open gate and a clutch pedal, but as Car and Driver explains, there's no physical connection to the gearbox. Ferrari's 'Manuale by Wire' system makes the eight-speed dual-clutch act like a six-speed manual, using the first six gears in an H pattern. You can stall it. A button returns it to automatic. It adds only about 11 pounds.
The V12 makes 830 metric horsepower (Car and Driver quotes 819 hp) and revs past 9,000 rpm. Production is 1,499 cars at €590,000, about $675,000, with first deliveries early next year, according to Il Sole 24 Ore. Car and Driver says it's the first gated-shifter Ferrari since 2012, when the last V12 manual, the 599 GTB Fiorano, ended production.
Kimera, known for its Lancia 037-inspired EVO37, revealed the K-39 at Villa d'Este in May. Top Gear reports a carbon tub, a 5.0-liter twin-turbo Koenigsegg V8 with 986 bhp tuned to run on regular pump fuel, a seven-speed Cima manual, rear-wheel drive and a target weight of about 1,100 kg. Top Gear expects a run of more than 50 and fewer than 100 cars, with about 20 sold at the time and a likely price of about £2 million with options. It's the first time Koenigsegg has supplied its V8 to another car maker.
Not every analog-themed car has a clutch. The Lanzante 95-59, named for the team's 1995 Le Mans win with a McLaren F1 GTR and its 59-car run, borrows the F1's three-seat layout and is based on the McLaren 750S, CarBuzz reports. Lanzante lists a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 with more than 850 bhp, a seven-speed SSG paddle-shift gearbox and a 1,250 kg target weight (Lanzante). In early October it showed an optional High Downforce Kit, a nod to the F1 HDK. The base price is about £1.02 million before taxes, according to Supercar Blondie.
Our data can't price a 64-car V12 yet, but it can show what buyers pay for a manual in cars that trade every day. In the Porsche 911 GT3, offered with either gearbox, the manual premium grows as cars age.
The first-generation Ford GT, sold only with a six-speed manual, is the clearest analog-supercar benchmark we track. Its middle ask was $750,000 across 23 cars on October 11, down slightly from about $765,000 a week earlier, with one 2005 car in Charlotte cut from $779,996 to $699,996 on October 8. The newer, dual-clutch second-generation car asks about $1.07 million. An 11,000-mile 2005 car ends on Bring a Trailer on Monday, October 12.
At the very top, the records belong to analog cars. At RM Sotheby's Monterey sale in August, a 1996 McLaren F1 GTR sold for $34.66 million, an F40 for $8.37 million and a Porsche 959 Sport for $7.05 million, all auction records for their models.
The return of the manual is real, and it's a good thing. But buyers should be clear about what they're getting. The S1, McL 6GT and K-39 are true manuals. The 12Cilindri Manuale is a very well-made simulation on a dual-clutch gearbox. That's not a criticism of how it drives, which we haven't tried, but in 20 years collectors will notice the difference, the way they notice it today between a 991.1 GT3 (PDK only) and a manual 991.2.
The analog premium in our data is real, but it's a scarcity premium, and it takes time. Manual GT3s only pulled ahead once they stopped being easy to buy new. A 1,499-car Ferrari isn't scarce in the way a 64-car Gordon Murray is. And the F40 and F1 GTR records are about icons, not about gearboxes. Don't assume every limited manual special is an investment.
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