With the ongoing electrification of cars, there are less and less cars offered with a manual gearbox, and for car enthusiasts this can ruin part of the experience of the car, how it feels and how it drives. Don’t get me wrong, the need for an alternative fuel source is long overdue, and its good to have a rough date on when petrol and diesel cars will be banned from sale. But until then, new cars are being released and a lot are still without manual gearboxes.

One case is the Alpine A110 from Renault Sport, this car was crying out for a manual gearbox but unfortunately Apline could only offer one option for the transmission and automatic with paddles is what they chose. The latest Polo GTI was supposed to be offered with both a DSG gearbox and a six speed manual. But unfortunately the manual hasn’t shown up yet.

However, despite the mishap with the Polo, Volkswagen is one of the only manufacturers to announce they are staying committed to manual gearboxes, so long as there is sufficient demand. Matthias Rabe from VW who is head of tech spoke to Autocar recently and said:

“Some people enjoy going back to their roots and changing gear manually, and so as long as there is demand, we will continue to offer them.”

Matthias Rabe

Even with recent car announcements, this is already apparent. The new 2020 Golf GTI has a manual gearbox as standard and no hybrid technology, with a traditional 2.0-litre turbocharged engine with 291bhp. Also in the VW lineup is the new up! GTI city car, which has a six speed gear box as standard and no DSG option.