Though several new battery-powered models are coming to showrooms this year, the electric vehicle market in the U.S. is still in its embryonic stage. According to , EVs accounted for just 1.6 percent of the approximately 17.1 million light duty vehicles sold here last year.
But there is one class of vehicles that full electrics now outsell, namely cars equipped with a manual transmission. Based on JD Power data reported by GCR, only 1.1 percent of vehicles sold in the U.S. during 2019 were fitted with a stick shift and a clutch. Sales of models fitted with a manual transmission dropped by 0.5 percent last year, while EV numbers – driven largely by the Tesla Model 3, which outsells all the other electric cars combined – rose by 1.0 percent.
For 2019 around 50 car lines still offered a stick shift, though that number has already dropped by a few models for 2020. At that, they’re often hard to find, as manuals are often limited to a particular engine or specific trim level within a given car line, and dealers hesitate to order them for a lack of demand. By comparison, sales of manually equipped vehicles were surpassed in total last year by an electric car segment that consisted of just 16 models.
Toyota raised a few eyebrows when it debuted its automatic-only Supra sports car last year. Likewise, the new mid-engine Corvette Stingray doesn’t offer a manual, but you won’t find a Ferrari with a stick shift, either. That’s because today’s automatics, particularly the dual-clutch versions favored by European makes, shift quicker and more precisely than any human could manage.
Electric cars should leap another sales hurdle this year, albeit overtaking another withering automotive segment. That would be the convertible, which accounts for an estimated 1.7 percent of U.S. auto sales. Its numbers dwindled again for 2020 as Buick dropped its Cascada ragtop from the lineup. That said, there are still a few convertibles that offer stick shifts, including the Chevrolet Camaro and the Mazda MX-5 Miata.
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