If you live in Europe and want to buy a Mercedes-Benz with a manual transmission you should better hurry up as the carmaker will phase it out from its entire range as early as 2023, as confirmed by a Mercedes spokesperson.
As reported by German publication Automobilwoche, the company’s spokesperson said: “With increasing electrification, we see that customer demand is shifting towards electric mobility components, batteries and (partially) electric drive systems”, adding that Mercedes-Benz will “gradually no longer offer manual transmissions”. The news comes two years after high-ranked Mercedes officials hinted at the change, as part of the cost-cutting measures.
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The entry-level Mercedes-Benz A180 sedan is still offered with a manual transmission in Europe
The only models in Mercedes’ current European lineup still offered with the option of a manual transmission are the entry-level A-Class, B-Class, and CLA. The German carmaker has stopped offering a three-pedal option in its US lineup for some years now.
Naturally, all members of the EQ range come with two pedals as the vast majority of EVs in the world, while the more upmarket models and the hotter AMG variants are traditionally offered only with an automatic transmission.
While the Mercedes spokesperson didn’t specify the timing of the change, Stuttgarter Zeitung reports it will happen as early as 2023. This could mean that the upcoming facelifted A-Class range will be exclusively offered with an automatic transmission, coinciding with similar changes in the facelifted B-Class and CLA lineups.
