Manual Cars Face Extinction

Vehicle Data Global (VDG) - which powers systems across the automotive sector with technical and market data - claims the decline in manual cars is growing at a faster pace than diesel, with the death of the manual gearbox coming as soon as 2030.

Analysis indicates the decline of the manual transmission is sign of consumer preferences that are shifting to automatic cars at an accelerated pace. And this is evident with the likes of the new Volkswagen T-Roc - a car that’s the backbone of Britain - being made available with an automatic transmission only.

Importantly, VDG analysed millions of existing market data points and identified that it is not just hybrids and EV models that are driving the decline of the manual gearbox, but the share of petrol and diesel cars being bought today has shown a decline for manual gearboxes by 50% with customers preferring automatic transmission in increasing numbers.

And the downward trend all points to its extinction as soon as 2030, citing research and development costs - along with production costs - are becoming increasingly unviable for manufacturers.

Current market share pitches manuals taking just 13.7% with automatics taking an unassailable lead. VDG says “the moment is approaching when declining demand is overtaken by hard economics for manufacturers reluctant to maintain the overheads and tooling to produce both systems”.

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About the Author

Graeme Cobb is a lifelong car enthusiast with a passion for writing about cars, EVs, industry updates and more.

You can find Graeme on 𝕏 at @graeme_cobb or YouTube @REV-EV.