participate in 21scheduled tribe century, obsolescence is not what it used to be, especially in the minds of young consumers; Consider the renaissance of vinyl records and film cameras. To that list, add the stick shift of an automobile.
Manual transmission is no longer just about a lower car purchase price, better fuel economy or greater control on the road. They’re all about being hip. At least, that is part of the thesis presented in a recent article wall street journal,
“The 20-Somethings Fueling a Stick-Shift Renaissance” examines the slight but real resurgence in sales of manual-equipped cars, and focuses on young people’s enthusiasm for achieving them, and the challenges—now so daunting. Aren’t – learning the bow to wield them.
But, as readers of autoblog Recent years have learned, the future of the manual, as author Rachel Wolff summarized in a journal piece, is essentially doomed in the long term. Blame the electric vehicle.
She writes that carmakers will sell 43 different manual models in 2022, according to JD Power, compared to 69 in 2019. A manual maneuvering experience for their electric car lineup. ,
Did we mention “ruined”?
But Ms. Wolfe offers some positives.
“Mini recently opened a manual driving school of its own at the BMW Performance Center in Thermal, California,” she writes. “A January company survey of just over 1,000 drivers found that two-thirds of 18 to 34-year-olds are eager to learn how to drive a manual, while 40% of older respondents who don’t already drive stick.”
The author quotes some drivers who became obsessed with the manual, including an Ohio teen who took his driving test with the manual. “I thought it was cool to learn to drive stick, just so I could tell my friends I was a better driver than them,” he says.
She also visits the other side of the issue, speaking to a 24-year-old who said he found the stick “cool”, but only until “his foot hurt from the clutch as he pushed forward”. and navigate oncoming traffic behind law school every day in Tampa, Fla. ‘I think they have a lot of fun driving about two hours, and then you say, well, I’d like to put it away and Drive like a normal person again.
The full article is available online here. Note that access to some stories in The Wall Street Journal may require a paid subscription.
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