Goodbye Sweet Stick Shift
The Washington Post notes what we Porsche people see clearly: the death of the stick shift. A few of us hardcore types are the last of that breed. Right now, the paper reports, less than one percent of new cars are sold with a stick, down from more than a third in 1980.
The Post’s Todd C. Frankel writes, “The sharp shift away from manual has been unfolding for decades, long lamented by auto enthusiasts who cheered on hopes that the nostalgia-soaked driving experience might somehow find a new audience.”
Ivan Drury, director of insights at auto research site Edmunds says people don’t want to pay attention to the road; they want to be on their phones. “The more the car becomes your couch, the less you’re going to want to shift your gears.”
Click here to see the grim graph.
