why do manual transmission cars sell so poorly in the US compared to the rest of the world?
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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.
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