There are now only 2 pickup trucks with manual transmission left in America
- Manual trucks used to be the norm
- But in 2024, only two pickup trucks in America have the option for a stick shift
- The change has become especially pronounced in the last six years
Published on Jul 25, 2024 at 4:06 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Jul 26, 2024 at 3:05 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Whether you drive an automatic or a manual car could say a lot about you.
Manual gearboxs are associated with hard work, as many feel only the more skilled drivers take them on.
Yet, despite this stereotype, only two pickup trucks in the whole of the USA have them anymore.
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Where have all the manual transmissions gone?
As of July 2024, you can only buy two trucks in the mid-size category that are manual – the Jeep Gladiator and the Toyota Tacoma.
Full-size pickups with manual transmissions are virtually extinct, with the Ram 2500 going automatic in 2019.
It stands to reason that the Gladiator and the Tacoma have held out as the only survivors, as both are known for their durability off-road.
The Gladiator can tow up to 7,700 pounds with the Max Tow package and even has removable doors for the full jeep experience.
Its V6 engine is the 3.6-liter Pentastar, which is extremely efficient.
However, it is outshone by the Tacoma, which has been the best-selling midsize pickup for many years.
Tacoma’s 2024 model has new turbo and turbo-hybrid cylinders and can tow up to 6,500 pounds.
It comes with a range of bed and cab configurations.
An eight-inch touchscreen is included in the lower trims, with a 14-inch display screen on the upper trims.
The stick shift trucks that are no more
Whilst the lack of manuals among trucks is surprising, it wasn’t always this way.
Many have fallen by the wayside in the past five or six years.
The 2018 Ram 2500 launched their fifth generation model in 2019 without a manual option.
The 2018 Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon and 2019 Nissan Frontier were also retired that same year.
Are stick shifts soon to be an extinct species?
Given how baffling automatic drivers have found manual cars, it’s hard to imagine this trend will be reversing anytime soon.
America seems to be leading this switch to automatic with Europe sticking to their manual cars.
In fact, these thieves in Seattle, US, were so baffled by their manual loot that they had to leave it in the parking lot and abandon their crime.
The amount of manual cars sold each year in the US is on the decline – but did see a small uptick between 2021 and 2023, going from less than 1 percent of all cars sold to 1.7 percent.
It’s not a lot, but it’s not nothing either.
