why do manual transmission cars sell so poorly in the US compared to the rest of the world?
In: 9
[removed]
Driver’s education / licensing tests don’t require learning manual transmissions, so younger drivers are much less likely to know how at all. Although perhaps 60% of American drivers know how, they are heavily weighted towards the older generations, and that number will continue to decrease over time. Someone who knows manual will still buy an automatic if necessary, but someone who only knows automatic will never buy a manual.
The US consumer market favors larger vehicles compared to other countries. Larger vehicles generally favor automatic transmissions. Manual transmissions are much more common in smaller vehicles and subsequently smaller vehicle markets.
Two reasons – Rush hour traffic, and long drives
People don’t want to have to deal with a clutch in daily bumper to bumper traffic. I’ve done it and it **sucks**. At the same time, city to city travel, or even further, is just easier to not have to worry about shifting through hills, curves, passing, etc.
Stick is fun to drive, and can be more economical, but the majority of US automobile consumer’s just want to get from A to B with minimal effort
It comes down to this: It’s simpler to drive automatic. We (humans) have invented a better car technology. I actually find it interesting that Europe and many Americans prefer manual transmissions when there is a much simpler and easier option. It’s a rare instance where a more complicated, older technology survives like this.
And yes, I know manual transmissions have better mileage and can go faster. But it seems like a mediocre trade-off for having extra work while driving.
There are a few of reasons for this. First of all, an automatic transmission consumes more fuel compared to a manual transmission. The cost of gas for Americans has been comparatively low versus most regions of the world so the impact of fuel efficiency with an automatic transmission has never really been a factor in the U.S. Additionally, transmission technology has improved dramatically over the years and, for the most part, is nearly even with the power conversion of a manual transmission. Americans living in cities with congested traffic will definitely prefer not to be dealing with a clutch and gear changes while stuck in stop-and-go traffic. Even where traffic is not an issue, Americans tend to favor convenience and will opt for the ease of use of an automatic transmission.
No one has hit all the points made in this article yet: https://www.rd.com/article/why-americans-drive-automatic/
One big point is our harried culture. A lot of us have to do things like eat, or make calls (both things we shouldn’t do), while traveling to do what we need to do.
Most people don’t learn it during drivers education, so one needs to find somebody to teach them or pay for an additional driver school; the cost of cars is lower than other countries relative to income, so it’s not such a big deal to spend a little more for an automatic; people are often eating, talking on phone, etc. while driving and it’s a distraction; manuals no longer offer speed or fuel economy benefits over automatics. Today, very few models even offer them, and when they do it’s often only on the lowest trim levels without other options/features car buyers want.
In the past manual transmissions were more economical than automatic transmissions, which is why they remained popular in Europe after the 1970s.
This is the same reason Diesel powered cars were only really popular in Europe as Diesel fuel was cheaper at the time.
While it’s true that modern automatics and CVTs are much better on fuel economy, driver preference for a manual transmission (because that’s what they are used to) and the myth that it’s still better on fuel economy maintains their popularity in Europe today.
Fuel costs in Europe are more expensive than in North America, and combined with the nature of their Cities and Roads made compact fuel efficient cars with manual transmissions the norm.
For all their complaining about it, fuel prices in the US have never been as high as Europe (or Canada for that matter) so historically fuel economy was not considered as big a factor as in Europe.
This drove the US market to prefer larger vehicles like SUVs and Trucks with automatics.
Americans like to use one hand to steer and the other to eat or operate their phone, leaving no hands to shift gears.
Latest Answers