Highest percentage of manuals sold??

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cwat89
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Highest percentage of manuals sold??

Post by cwat89 »

This was just a curious thought that crossed my mind... You always hear about what the current lowest percent of manual transmission cars sold for the year but does anyone know what year had the HIGHEST percent of stick shit cars sold?? Again no point just a thought. :D
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

Post by Rope-Pusher »

cwat89 wrote:This was just a curious thought that crossed my mind... You always hear about what the current lowest percent of manual transmission cars sold for the year but does anyone know what year had the HIGHEST percent of stick shit cars sold?? Again no point just a thought. :D
Prolly back when Henry Ford was still selling the model T.
Actually, you'd want to get to the point in history after the electric starter motor had become popular and steam and electric cars faded from the landscape, but before slushbox transmixers were invented. There has to be a period in there where virtually 100% of the vehicles being sold had Amish transmissions.
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

Post by cwat89 »

Right I mean I know at one point in time there would've been 100% but I guess in mind I'm thinking of modern cars something along the time line of the past 20-30 years.
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

Post by theholycow »

cwat89 wrote:Right I mean I know at one point in time there would've been 100% but I guess in mind I'm thinking of modern cars something along the time line of the past 20-30 years.
30 years puts us at 1985, smack dab in the middle of a time that might have been a high percentage.

In 1985 manuals still thoroughly outperformed automatics for speed, fuel economy, reliability/longevity, and fun; there were still plenty of old-school folks who cut their teeth on manuals and weren't letting go; econoboxen (which came standard with a manual transmission and they were actually on the new car lot that way) were heavily represented in sales numbers; everybody still felt the pain of the 1970s gas crises; and technology hadn't caught up to emissions regulations so horsepower was at an all-time low but people still wanted to go fast.

By the 1990s gas prices were very low and people were forgetting the gas shortages, automatics were improving, and technology was catching up to emissions regulations and providing power to spare. By the late 1990s small cars were getting larger and more luxurious and dealers weren't ordering manuals, SUVs without manuals offered were winning the market, automatics were starting to outperform manuals, and gas cost was at an all-time low. By the mid-2000s the econobox was mostly dead, and when 2008's fuel prices revived interest, people weren't willing to tolerate shifting for themselves even if a fuel economy bonus was available.
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

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While I tend to agree with you generally, Moofasa, I'd like to see actual numbers put to this. Anyone know where you might find anything that tracks that? I've found random sites before, auto blogs, magazines, etc... that will quote numbers from the last decade, but did they even track that information previously? The auto manufacturers probably did but was that information released anywhere?
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Squint wrote:While I tend to agree with you generally, Moofasa, I'd like to see actual numbers put to this. Anyone know where you might find anything that tracks that? I've found random sites before, auto blogs, magazines, etc... that will quote numbers from the last decade, but did they even track that information previously? The auto manufacturers probably did but was that information released anywhere?
Wards Auto prolly has it....and will share it with you if you pay for their data service - it's a profit thing.

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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

Post by Rope-Pusher »

32% of VW Golf SportWagens sold in USA are 2.0 T/D MTX

Image
That amounts to about 6,400 in the last year.
http://wardsauto.com/test-drives/vw-gol ... stereotype
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

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Rope-Pusher wrote:32% of VW Golf SportWagens sold in USA are 2.0 T/D MTX

Image
That amounts to about 6,400 in the last year.
http://wardsauto.com/test-drives/vw-gol ... stereotype
Technically, that should be Jetta SportWagens until this April when the Golf SportWagens roll out. It is certainly on my radar to consider in the future.
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Squint wrote:
Rope-Pusher wrote:32% of VW Golf SportWagens sold in USA are 2.0 T/D MTX

Image
That amounts to about 6,400 in the last year.
http://wardsauto.com/test-drives/vw-gol ... stereotype
Technically, that should be Jetta SportWagens until this April when the Golf SportWagens roll out. It is certainly on my radar to consider in the future.
Image
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

Post by potownrob »

Rope-Pusher wrote: Image
A Jetta is just a Golf with a trunk and don't let those folks in marketing tell you anything otherwise!
it may have originated as a golf with a trunk, but they started splitting off with the 4th generation (different rear doors), not to mention the 3rd gen cosmetic differences, then they had their own major design differences (both inside and out) since the 6th generation, and now no longer even run off the same platform.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Jetta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Golf
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

Post by Squint »

potownrob wrote:it may have originated as a golf with a trunk, but they started splitting off with the 4th generation (different rear doors), not to mention the 3rd gen cosmetic differences, then they had their own major design differences (both inside and out) since the 6th generation, and now no longer even run off the same platform.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Jetta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Golf
Does this mean rob is in marketing?? :lol:
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

Post by potownrob »

you better believe they have a real snake oil salesman running their marketing department, or else they probably wouldn't still be selling cars here :)
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

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Image
I remember the Dasher - now THAT wasn't just a Golf with a trunk added to it.
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Re: Highest percentage of manuals sold??

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Rope-Pusher wrote:
cwat89 wrote:This was just a curious thought that crossed my mind... You always hear about what the current lowest percent of manual transmission cars sold for the year but does anyone know what year had the HIGHEST percent of stick shit cars sold?? Again no point just a thought. :D
Prolly back when Henry Ford was still selling the model T.
Actually, you'd want to get to the point in history after the electric starter motor had become popular and steam and electric cars faded from the landscape, but before slushbox transmixers were invented. There has to be a period in there where virtually 100% of the vehicles being sold had Amish transmissions.
Whelp, that would likely be 99 percent crashbox (non syncronized) manual transmissions because I suspect by the time many cars were sportin syncros, the automatic transmission was also being promoted (for the ladies presumably). Then once the ladies got in good with automatics, a bunch of guys went girly man to have the so-called convenience of an automatic. But to me there is nothing convenient about an automatic. It just makes driving a chore. But with a manual, you can kill two birds with one stone and have a whole lot of fun doing something as mundane as going to the grocery store for a jug of milk.
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