You read that right: in 2019’s third quarter, electric vehicles outsold manual transmissions, Driving.ca reports, citing numbers compiled by J.D. Power research. I knew this day would come.
In easily digestible terms, here’s what J.D. Power found, per Driving.ca:
That intersection of falling M/Ts and rising EVs happened at 1.6-per-cent penetration, with EVs rising to represent 1.9 per cent of total sales; and stickshifts falling to a low of 1.1 per cent by the end of Q3.
Anyone following market trends probably isn’t surprised. With a dying interest in manuals and many marques just straight-up discontinuing their manual cars in America, it was only a matter of time before EVs—the hottest new trend—overtook ‘em in sales. If you want a manual now, you kind of have to seek it out; most brands only offer them on certain niche models.
Here’s what Tyson Jominy, Vice President of Automotive Data & Analytics Consulting at J.D. Power, told Driving.ca in an email:
[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.
If you’re not quite ready to abandon your good old fashioned gears, you’re probably going to want to start thinking about making a purchase pretty quick, before they’re totally phased out of American markets.