Good news! Manual Porsche 911 GT3s can be sold in California after all
Porsche worked with California regulators to allow the manual GT3 to be sold in the Golden State.
When the new Porsche 911 GT3 Touring made its debut last week, its arrival came with one major caveat: no manual transmission option for buyers in California. Not only that, but no manual option for any GT3 model in the Golden State. Sad stuff, to be sure. But thankfully, a bummer no more. Porsche confirmed Tuesday that it will be able to sell manual GT3s in the state of California right from the get-go -- the way it should've been all along.
"Following consultations with California authorities, Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) is pleased to confirm that its dealers will be able to sell the new 911 GT3 with a six-speed manual gearbox," the automaker said in a statement. "When the first cars arrive in the fall, they can be legally registered and driven in all 50 states."
An outdated California Code of Regulations testing procedure was the original cause of this problem. "On June 11, Porsche Cars North America received a notification from California Highway Patrol outlining that their existing test procedure (SAE J1470, from March 1992) was obsolete but it could not identify a procedural process to allow Porsche to test the new 911 GT3 equipped with a manual transmission through the modern test procedure (SAE J2805, from May 2020)," the company said. "Discussions with the regulators continued but without visibility to a solution we took the difficult decision to inform dealers that the manual option would be no longer be available in California, since there would be no way to legally register the cars in the state."
Porsche says that with the help of the California DMV and Highway Patrol the company was able to find an "appropriate regulatory path forward," allowing the manual GT3 to be sold in California legally. We've asked Porsche to elaborate on what, exactly, this appropriate regulatory path is, and will update this story if and when the company offers clarification.
The 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 arrives in the US this fall, with the GT3 Touring landing early next year. Prices for both start at $162,450 including $1,350 for destination, and the manual transmission is a no-cost option.
