The population of manual hot hatches is dwindling, and that’s not surprising at all since the demand for three-pedal performance cars is shrinking as well. Volkswagen has dropped the stick-shift option for the hotter Golf variants (the diesel GTD and electrified GTE) with both only using DSGs. Thankfully, the German marque has kept the GTI with a six-speed manual.
Honda and Ford have also kept their manual hot hatches, with the Civic Type R, Focus ST, and Fiesta ST all using six-speed manual gearboxes.
Hyundai, on the other hand, vows to not abandon manual transmission for its N cars, according to a report by Carsales.
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“Where possible, we would continue to like to offer buyers the choice of a manual transmission for purists or the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission,” said Hyundai product planner Howard Lam in the Australian publication’s report.
We’re not completely surprised by this, though. Hyundai refreshed the i30 N hot hatch this year and thankfully, its six-speed manual tranny is still intact in its list of options along with a new seven-speed dual-clutch.
The i20 N, on the other hand, is nearing its launch. Previous reports speculated that the pocket rocket will or will not get a stick shift, but now purist fans of the brand will be able to sleep knowing that the Korean marque isn’t dropping the MT option.
However, Hyundai recognizes that the demand for manual transmissions isn’t that high anymore. In Carsales‘ report, Lam said, “It’s hard to say what growth we will achieve, but we understand that our competitors who offer an automatic have achieved significant mix with those transmissions … We’ll just have to wait. I would say more people will buy the auto than the manual.”