Honda Sticks With Manuals

Manual transmissions account for a shrinking share of new-car sales, but Honda is not ready to abandon the third pedal.

American Honda Vice President of Auto Sales Lance Woelfer acknowledged the decline during the IndyCar Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C. He said demand for manuals “continues to be a smaller and smaller portion of the market” and will probably fall further.

However, low demand will not immediately remove them from Honda showrooms.

“We see very little demand going in, but we’re going to have them in the line,” Woelfer said.

Honda and its luxury brand Acura currently offer four models with manual transmissions. The Honda Civic Si and Civic Type R come exclusively with six-speed gearboxes, while the Acura Integra A-Spec offers one as an option. The Integra Type S also pairs its turbocharged engine with a six-speed manual.

That gives Honda one of the broader manual lineups left in the industry. Many manufacturers now reserve stick shifts for a small number of performance cars, while others have removed them entirely.

Questions about Honda’s plans grew in July after the automaker announced a production pause for the 2027 Civic Si and Acura Integra A-Spec. Honda later confirmed that the Si would return with the next-generation Civic in 2028, although it did not guarantee that the model would retain its manual transmission.

Woelfer’s latest remarks suggest Honda still intends to keep manuals available. The Civic Si appears the strongest candidate to continue, given how closely the gearbox is tied to the model’s identity. The future of the manual-equipped Integra A-Spec is less certain because the automatic version accounts for most of its sales.

American Honda President and CEO Eiji Fujimura also stopped short of making a firm product commitment when asked about the company’s long-term plans.

“Sometimes I need to get back to Soichiro Honda on some things,” Fujimura said. “But we always think about the enthusiasts, and we always think about their dreams.”

Keeping manuals presents a difficult business case. Automatic transmissions are easier to sell, while modern dual-clutch gearboxes can shift faster than most drivers. Electric vehicles do not require conventional multi-speed transmissions at all.

Honda, however, has spent decades building its reputation among drivers through cars such as the S2000, NSX, Civic Si and Civic Type R. Their sales may be small beside the company’s mainstream models, but they help maintain its connection with enthusiasts.

Honda has not promised that every current manual model will survive. For now, though, the company is prepared to keep the clutch pedal even as fewer customers choose to use it.