The time is now upon us. We all knew this day was coming but it’s still a bit odd to see. The manual transmission is going to die off, as will the internal combustion engine and both will be replaced with EVs. While the world hasn’t gone fully-electric just yet, the EV has already dispatched one of them — the manual.
According to a recent report from Driving.ca, who recently spoke with J.D. Power, the manual transmission was beaten by EVs in the third quarter of this year, a market first.
In an email with Driving, Tyson Jominy, Vice-President, PIN Consulting of the Data and Analytics Division at J.D. Power, said“[Manual transmissions] have been on a nearly century-long decline and while no rational person thinks the trend will ever reverse, it was interesting to note that only this year, after nearly a decade in market, EVs were able to surpass last century’s dying technology,”
To be honest, I’m surprised it took this long. There have been some excellent EVs on sale for years now and manuals are dying off more and more every year. With cars like the Chevy Bolt, Nissan Leaf, BMW i3 and Tesla Models S, 3 and X (See what Elon did there? He’s so clever, right?), you’d imagine that EVs would at least be more popular than the manual transmission. While we love manuals, automakers can’t stop selling them fast enough because no one will buy them.
And it’s only going to get worse for manual lovers. More and more EVs are coming to market and they’re getting better and better. They’re also coming from more and more automakers, both cheap and expensive, economical and luxurious. So the manual transmission is closer to extinct than ever before and if you want one, get one now. You might not get another chance.
[Source: Driving.ca]
