- The 30 most popular automotive brands in the UK have been ditching manual transmissions.
- At the rate manuals are being dropped, they could cease to be offered in popular models by 2037.
- Volkswagen currently offers the most models with manuals, including the Golf, Polo, and T-Cross.
Manual transmissions are becoming increasingly rare, and a new study is highlighting how drastic the change has been. In particular, the number of vehicles with a manual transmission has dropped 57% in a decade.
The study was conducted in the United Kingdom and focused on the top 30 brands. It found 192 models were available with a stick shift in 2015. However, that number has steadily declined: 109 models in 2023, 89 (-25%) in 2024, and just 82 (-8%) this year.
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Given that, it’s not surprising that the number of brands that don’t offer manual transmissions has been growing. Mini and Land Rover went automatic-only in 2025, joining Lexus, Mercedes, Tesla, and Volvo.
CarGurus also found that there were 196 models available exclusively with an automatic transmission from the top 30 manufacturers. They also noted “models available with a manual transmission make up just 29% of options from the country’s top-selling automakers.”
Seven models dropped a manual transmission last year and, if that trend continues, the three-pedal gearbox could be extinct by 2037. The transition to electric vehicles hasn’t helped, but some automakers have been exploring ways to keep the option alive, at least in spirit.
Putting doom and gloom aside, Volkswagen is the hero as it offers seven models with a manual transmission in the UK. They were followed by Citroen and Ford, each offering six models with three pedals. Rounding out the podium are Dacia, Hyundai, Mazda, and Skoda, each with five manual models on offer.
CarGurus’ Chris Knapman said, “With an increasing number of new cars being fully electric, and the market’s general push to larger and more premium vehicles, it is no great surprise to see the decline of the manual gearbox continuing in the 12 months since we last conducted this study. Increasingly, an automatic gearbox is no longer a luxury that buyers must pay extra for, but an expected standard feature.”