New cars Australians buy most with manual transmissions

Manual transmissions accounted for less than 1.8 per cent of new passenger cars and SUVs sold last year – or 4.7 per cent, including utes and vans – down 90 per cent on a decade ago.

The number of new cars available with manual transmissions continues to decline, as buyers favour automatics – accelerated by the growth in popularity of hybrid and electric cars.

But in some new-car categories manual transmissions still account for more than 30 per cent of sales – and in some models account for more than half of sales.

Data supplied to Drive shows 13.5 per cent of new ‘light commercial vehicles’ (utes and vans) sold in 2022 were fitted with manual transmissions – compared with 3.9 per cent of passenger cars (hatchbacks, sedans, wagons, coupes and convertibles), and 1.1 per cent of SUVs.

More buyers of cars in the ‘sports cars under $80,000’ sales category – as classified by the car industry lobby group, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries – opt for manuals than any other market segment, at 31.8 per cent.

Only 7.7 per cent of buyers in the dearer ‘sports cars $80,000 to $200,000’ category opted for a manual transmission – albeit from a smaller number of options – while the ratio is slimmer still in the ‘sports cars above $200,000’ class.

While there are fewer manual vehicles to choose from in these categories, demand is high for the cars that offer them, accounting for 20 per cent of the Porsche 911 and 718 sales mix last year – and up to 50 per cent of orders for the 911 GT3, and six-cylinder 718s, as previously reported by Drive.

Closely following the ‘affordable’ sports-car category is 4×2 utes, of which 25 per cent of sales last year were manuals – likely driven by cheap ‘price-leader’ models – compared to 12.6 per cent of 4×4 utes.

Nearly 13 per cent of ‘micro car’ buyers opted for three pedals – including the Kia Picanto (11 per cent) – while 4.7 per cent of ‘light car’ sales (such as the Kia Rio and Mini Hatch) were manuals.

In the city-SUV category, 6.7 per cent of vehicles sold featured a manual transmission – about a third of which were Suzuki Jimny four-wheel-drives.

When the current Suzuki Jimny went on sale in 2019, about 55 per cent of sales were manuals – but once the first wave of enthusiast buyers passed through showrooms, and the model gained wider appeal, the manual dropped to 20 per cent of Suzuki Jimny sales.

Hot hatchbacks remain another stronghold for manual-transmission vehicle sales – but sales have slid in recent years, as more models add the option of automatic transmissions, and the number of hot hatches available falls.