Re:The End of Manual Transmission
by LorenPechtel on Tuesday August 09, 2022 @05:23PM
(#32404524)
My experience in 2013 was manuals were bottom of the heap, bare bones cars and sport cars, nothing else in the sort of stuff I was looking at. I suspect the latter is what's driving up the cost.
The last time I bought a car was in 2012, and I had to wait for a manual to arrive on the lot. I haven't looked, so I don't know whether they're more readily available nowadays. I hear there's been a lot of change in dealer inventory in the last decade.
Fewer manual cars produced => lower scale efficiencies => higher delivered costs
It could also reflect the willingness of enthusiasts to pay more for a manual transmission (or to avoid the automatic).
BTW, the average new car price is nearly $50k. RIP to the $35k latest/greatest.