6 ms·

> As sad as it may be, manual vehicles make up a miniscule percentage of the current market share. Is the author talking about the world or the US? AFAIK the

by pier25 4y ago

> As sad as it may be, manual vehicles make up a miniscule percentage of the current market share. Is the author talking about the world or the US? AFAIK the vast majority of vehicles sold in Europe are manual. Not sure about the rest of the world. I'm from Spain and I've never seen an AT car there. I'm sure they exist though, probably. I now live in Mexico where AT is very common and I've gotten used to it. I think the best AT is better than the best MT, but I think the average MT is way better than the average AT. I'd be totally happy driving MT.

radicaldreamer 4y ago
Average MT cars also last a lot longer than AT cars… although with cars these days it’s almost as much about the software experience and interior than long term longevity so the market is really changing.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
antegamisou 4y ago
> Is the author talking about the world or the US? World = USA for something like 90% of Internet posts/videos.
- wil421 4y ago
  Funny, you’re reading an American news aggregate site about an American publication called Popular Mechanics. Why wouldn’t you expect Popular Mechanics to be talking about the American market?
  - antegamisou 4y ago
    Because the world does not revolve around the US. But certainly it's hard for anyone to realize that when they've been brainwashed for an entire century that they live in the greatest country in the galaxy.
    - wil421 4y ago
      Then don’t read American publications and get mad when they are taking about America.
      - antegamisou 4y ago
        Yeah I might as well quit reading anything written in English online because a bozo says there's only one country in the world we should care about and the rest need to stfu.
      - mnw21cam 4y ago
        I can read American publications and get mad when they are talking about America without indicating that they are talking about America. It's like me declaring that it's perfectly legal to cross the road wherever you like - unless I qualify that by saying what jurisdiction that refers to, then it's just confusing bad advice for a proportion of people reading who might not actually notice that it is. I have similar grumbles whenever a publication uses the phrase "in the country", and I have to go and investigate which country they mean.
        kllrnohj 4y ago
        > I can read American publications and get mad when they are talking about America without indicating that they are talking about America. They did indicate that by being an American publication. It's not like Spain publications start every article with "Here in Spain, <blah blah blah>." That'd be absurd.
  - capableweb 4y ago
    > American news aggregate site While Ycombinator is certainly based in the US, lots of people visiting/participating in HN discussions are not. Latest poll (6 months ago): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30210378 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30210378 Visualization: https://ae.studio/random/where-does-hacker-news-live https://ae.studio/random/where-does-hacker-news-live Seems to be pretty 50%/50% between US and non-US based on poll answers.
_delirium 4y ago
> AFAIK the vast majority of vehicles sold in Europe are manual. This was true up until a few years ago, but it's around 50/50 now for passenger cars. There is a definite regional split, with manuals still popular in southern Europe, but having rapidly declining market share in northern Europe. Part of that is that hybrid and electric cars have had more uptake in northern Europe and are almost always automatic (there are a handful of manual hybrids, but they're not common). Automatics as a percentage of new passenger car sales in 2020 for a few European countries [1]: EU27+UK: 50% Sweden: 86% Germany: 61% UK: 56% France: 48% Greece: 34% Spain: 32% Italy: 28% [1] Full table is on p. 57 of this report: https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ICCT-EU-Pocketbook-2021-Web-Dec21.pdf https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ICCT-EU-Pocke...
- glogla 4y ago
  So rich people get automatic and poor people get manual. That explains why US gets automatic as well.
  - _fizz_buzz_ 4y ago
    Many high end cars are not even offered with manual transmission in Europe anymore.
    - glogla 4y ago
      Of course, poor people are not buying high end cars. Compare what cars people drive in US, in Germany, in Greece and in Romania.
sbaiddn 4y ago
You haven't driven much in Spain recently, Id gather. The industry is going towards 10 speed autos for heavier cars and CVTs for light ones. Cheap hybrids get CVTs, good ones eCVTs (actually a differential couples to a couple of motors). Manual is dying in Europe just like anywhere else
- capableweb 4y ago
  Yeah, I do a lot driving in Spain and surrounding countries (Portugal, Italy and France mainly), sometimes with my own car (manual) and sometimes with rentals. I prefer manual but it's getting really hard to even find rentals that are manual. In the few cases they advertise a model as manual, it's a 50/50 chance the car is actually automatic when you come to pick up the model, and when you request to change it to whatever model that has model, they tell you they don't even have any manual cars anymore.
Klonoar 4y ago
>AFAIK the vast majority of vehicles sold in Europe are manual. This is a common talking point but has actually swung hard in the opposite direction in recent years.

by pier25 4y ago

radicaldreamer 4y ago

Average MT cars also last a lot longer than AT cars… although with cars these days it’s almost as much about the software experience and interior than long term longevity so the market is really changing.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

antegamisou 4y ago

> Is the author talking about the world or the US? World = USA for something like 90% of Internet posts/videos.

wil421 4y ago
Funny, you’re reading an American news aggregate site about an American publication called Popular Mechanics. Why wouldn’t you expect Popular Mechanics to be talking about the American market?
- antegamisou 4y ago
  Because the world does not revolve around the US. But certainly it's hard for anyone to realize that when they've been brainwashed for an entire century that they live in the greatest country in the galaxy.
  - wil421 4y ago
    Then don’t read American publications and get mad when they are taking about America.
    - antegamisou 4y ago
      Yeah I might as well quit reading anything written in English online because a bozo says there's only one country in the world we should care about and the rest need to stfu.
    - mnw21cam 4y ago
      I can read American publications and get mad when they are talking about America without indicating that they are talking about America. It's like me declaring that it's perfectly legal to cross the road wherever you like - unless I qualify that by saying what jurisdiction that refers to, then it's just confusing bad advice for a proportion of people reading who might not actually notice that it is. I have similar grumbles whenever a publication uses the phrase "in the country", and I have to go and investigate which country they mean.
      - kllrnohj 4y ago
        > I can read American publications and get mad when they are talking about America without indicating that they are talking about America. They did indicate that by being an American publication. It's not like Spain publications start every article with "Here in Spain, <blah blah blah>." That'd be absurd.
- capableweb 4y ago
  > American news aggregate site While Ycombinator is certainly based in the US, lots of people visiting/participating in HN discussions are not. Latest poll (6 months ago): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30210378 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30210378 Visualization: https://ae.studio/random/where-does-hacker-news-live https://ae.studio/random/where-does-hacker-news-live Seems to be pretty 50%/50% between US and non-US based on poll answers.

_delirium 4y ago

> AFAIK the vast majority of vehicles sold in Europe are manual. This was true up until a few years ago, but it's around 50/50 now for passenger cars. There is a definite regional split, with manuals still popular in southern Europe, but having rapidly declining market share in northern Europe. Part of that is that hybrid and electric cars have had more uptake in northern Europe and are almost always automatic (there are a handful of manual hybrids, but they're not common). Automatics as a percentage of new passenger car sales in 2020 for a few European countries [1]: EU27+UK: 50% Sweden: 86% Germany: 61% UK: 56% France: 48% Greece: 34% Spain: 32% Italy: 28% [1] Full table is on p. 57 of this report: https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ICCT-EU-Pocketbook-2021-Web-Dec21.pdf https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ICCT-EU-Pocke...

glogla 4y ago
So rich people get automatic and poor people get manual. That explains why US gets automatic as well.
- _fizz_buzz_ 4y ago
  Many high end cars are not even offered with manual transmission in Europe anymore.
  - glogla 4y ago
    Of course, poor people are not buying high end cars. Compare what cars people drive in US, in Germany, in Greece and in Romania.

sbaiddn 4y ago

You haven't driven much in Spain recently, Id gather. The industry is going towards 10 speed autos for heavier cars and CVTs for light ones. Cheap hybrids get CVTs, good ones eCVTs (actually a differential couples to a couple of motors). Manual is dying in Europe just like anywhere else

capableweb 4y ago
Yeah, I do a lot driving in Spain and surrounding countries (Portugal, Italy and France mainly), sometimes with my own car (manual) and sometimes with rentals. I prefer manual but it's getting really hard to even find rentals that are manual. In the few cases they advertise a model as manual, it's a 50/50 chance the car is actually automatic when you come to pick up the model, and when you request to change it to whatever model that has model, they tell you they don't even have any manual cars anymore.

Klonoar 4y ago

>AFAIK the vast majority of vehicles sold in Europe are manual. This is a common talking point but has actually swung hard in the opposite direction in recent years.