I was shocked to read that Porsche only sold two -- yes two -- 911 Carrera 4s in January 2006. I thought that the C4s -- the all-wheel drive version of the 911 Carrera -- were introduced late in December 2005 so there had to be more than two sold in the US in January 2006, its first full month of sales. But I was wrong.

I visited Beverly Hills Porsche to check out the Cayman in detail and to check for the presence of the C4. I have seen several of the 911 C4 quadruplets Porsche sells in the US (Carrera 4, Carrera 4S, Carrera 4 Cabriolet and Carrera 4S Cabriolet) running around my neighborhood. But now that I think about it, I've only noticed the proliferation of these pricey 911 upgrades in the past few weeks -- which means February, not January!

There were at least three C4s on the lot in Beverly Hills and I'm sure there were more hiding in parking garages scattered around buildings on Wilshire. I asked my not-so-knowledgeable-but-hot-chick-so-who-cares sales consultant about when the C4 arrived. She really didn't know; but she did know that it wasn't until sometime in January. I don't think a C4 sale had shown up on her commission check yet, so it wasn't on her radar screen.

I'm guessing that Porsche simply didn't book the sales of the C4 in January as they either lapsed onto February books or they were just lazy. So I asked her how many were sold at the dealership. She said that Porsche had only sent them cars with the six-speed manual transmission and while they can sell those, the vast majority of 911s (and other models) sold by their dealership had Porsche's signature Tiptronic automatic transmission! She volunteered a staggering 80% of sales were with Tiptronic.

Now I doubt that the overall US product mix (excluding Cayenne) comes in at 80% automatics, and I have doubts about her ability to calculate a percentage, but it does speak to the difference between the LA market and other Porsche-hot markets like southern Florida -- Miami, South Beach, West Palm Beach -- the Hamptons, etc.

First and foremost, it's really important to look cool in your Porsche -- after all, that's why most people here buy one. Unfortunately, for many Porsche customers in LA, the reality of daily commuting in gridlocked traffic makes shifting gears more work than joy.

The average studio suit or slimy agent has to juggle several electronic devices -- cell phone, Blackberry, Bluetooth headset - one or two analog objects like a notepad or Daily Variety and at least one cup of Starbucks coffee -- while driving. These other more important things don't leave time to shift gears, let alone notice other drivers or obey traffic signals.

When Porsche introduced the Cayenne, the only transmission available was Tiptronic. About a year later, Porsche brought the V6 Cayenne to market. To make the entry level Cayenne's MSRP seem almost "reasonable", the standard transmission is a stick; however, I've never seen one. Since Tiptronic adds a cool $4,000 to the price of any Porsche, and since I bet that almost every V6 Cayenne that comes to the US has the Tiptronic option, it's just another way for Porsche to collect its pound of flesh.

Of course, for the Porsche purists and the car magazine pundits, a Porsche sports car should only have a stick. They don't drive in the real world -- the broken roads, canyon short cuts and gridlocked freeways of Los Angeles. I've driven my 1975 Porsche 914 up Laurel Canyon during commuting hours. It was hell riding the clutch, making sudden stops, worrying about rollback when the guy behind you stops within three inches of your bumper and the constant rowing between first and second gears.

Tiptronic has provided Porsche fans with a way to own and enjoy driving their cars on a daily basis, in hideous LA traffic. It's that simple and it makes total sense.

I owned a beautiful 1995 968 with Tiptronic. It was the best handling car I've ever owned, but unfortunately, the Tiptronic manual shifts weren't very fast and it was easier and faster to just let the transmission shift itself. Fortunately, Porsche has refined Tiptronic and upgraded its shifting software over the years. The latest generation Tiptronic S offers fastest manual shifts to date.

However, Tiptronic has always been based on a conventional automatic transmission with a manual shifting mode, so it's about time for Porsche to join ranks with BMW, Audi and Volkswagen (as well as many other worldwide manufacturers that don't sell their product in the US) and introduce a clutchless manual transmission. [Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati also offer their own versions.]

BMW is in its third generation of SMG (sequential manual gearshift). The current M5 offers the latest-generation SMG with 7 speeds. And it's the only transmission BMW is offering (at this time) for the M5 and M6.

The Volkswagen group developed a double-clutch clutchless automatic/manual transmission it calls DSG (direct-shift gearbox). The system uses two clutches -- one for the odd number gears and the other for even number gears, and sophisticated software performs the shifts either automatically or manually, as chosen by the driver. DSG was first introduced to the US market in the 2005 Audi TT 3.2 liter coupe. Since then, it's spread to the A3 and VW's Jetta/Golf offerings in the US.

This concept isn't new to Porsche. Porsche has been using clutchless manuals in racing and exotic applications since the 1980s. Porsche uses the name PDK - or Porsche double clutch (in German).

There have been rumors for a while that Porsche will introduce PDK in a production Porsche within a year. The 2007 911 Turbo will be here in mid-year with a six-speed manual transmission. It's interesting to note that all the car magazines got to drive the new Turbo in the past month and the same screaming yellow Turbo is on the cover of every car magazine. The photos show the Turbo with Tiptronic, yet there is no mention of Tiptronic on introduction.

When Alan and I discussed the introduction of PDK to the US market, he correctly posited that Porsche would likely introduce it on an existing model to give it some new marketing legs. Right now, the "old" model would be either the Boxster or 911 which were both introduced in late 2004.

My hope is that it will come not only to the Boxster, but that it will materialize on the Cayman when Porsche introduces a de-tuned version of the Cayman S, a plain Jane Cayman. [I'll take one, thank you.]

Assuming Porsche's PDK will be as good as the excellent VW Group DSG, it could replace Tiptronic, assume the name Tiptronic or add just one more expensive option to the never-ending list of Porsche options.

I'm convinced LA will embrace PDK as it has Tiptronic. With PDK, you can get your 911 Carrera 4S with a transmission that gets you from Laurel Canyon to Century City at an average 12 mph. It will also let you play boy (or girl) racer late at night when you can really get into trouble on Mulholland Drive. You could even take on Highway 46 in Central California where James Dean crashed into immortality on 30 September 1955 in his new Porsche 550 Spyder. Hey, it's the LA way!