It used to be that manual transmissions were seen as the superior way to drive, a way where you have full control over the vehicle. Even 10 years ago parents would insist their kids learned to drive stick. But those times are gone, and now manual’s on the road seem exceptionally rare, what happened? In his article we will try and find out. It’s only a matter of time before manaul transmission becomes obsolete in Ontario
The Statistics
As of 2020 the amount of manual transmission cars sold in North America was a miniscule 1.2% of the total market. That’s down from 3.4% in 2010, which to be fair was also a tiny percentage. If this trend continues though it’s likely that Manual cars will go the way of collectors items, a strange artifact of a different time like hand cranks to start engines in the 1930’s.
What exactly is manual transmissions to become obsolete in Ontario? Well there are a few culprits.
Automatic Technology
The argument that manuals are better has always come down to “control” that human judgement of when to change gears is better than automatic. However with advancements in technology that line of reasoning just isn’t true anymore.
Automatic Transmissions are now reliably proven to be more efficient, they have more gears to cycle through than manuals, they can switch much faster than a human and they can gauge exactly when to do it. These facts mean that Automatics have become more fuel efficient than manuals.
Electric Cars
The last decade has also seen the rise of a potentially bigger problem for manual transmissions: Electric cars. EV’s are not automatic or manual because EV’s don’t have transmissions. The rise in popularity and practicality of electrics may end up being the death of the manual transmission as more and more Car companies commit to switching to electric.
Consumer Wants
These are both factors that may lead to the end of manual, but manual transmissions have been on the decline for almost 40 years now. And certainly that can’t be explained by the switch to electric. Unfortunately for manual fans the answer for this decline is much simpler.
Most people just can’t be bothered with driving manual. The decision between automatic and manual is less a question of control, and more a question of convenience and comfort. Automatics remove roughly half the work from a day to day drive by taking the decision out of your control meaning you can just focus on steering and acceleration.
For big car fans this is a travesty but most people on the roads are not car fans, they’re simply car drivers.