The number of cars with manual transmission has decreased by half a million in five years

New models are regularly introduced that – at least in the Netherlands – no longer have a manual version. Consider, for example, the recently introduced new Skoda Kodiaq and Superb. The automatic transmission is slowly but surely filtering down as standard transmission to models lower in the market, although traditional A and B segments are often still available with a manual gearbox. The rise of cars with a hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric drivetrain has of course also had an influence on the declining share of cars with a manual transmission on the car market in recent years. What percentage of the Dutch vehicle fleet actually has a manual gearbox?

Dutch fleet by transmission (January 1, 2023)

On January 1, 2023, the Dutch passenger car fleet numbered 9,233,107 cars. Of these, 5,995,922 had a manual gearbox, 2 percent less than a year earlier. This means that 64.9 percent of the passenger cars in the Netherlands that were registered at the beginning of this year had a manual gearbox. So a large majority. Five years earlier – on January 1, 2018 – 73.9 percent of the Dutch vehicle fleet still had a manual transmission. The share of manual transmission cars in the total fleet has therefore decreased by 9 percentage points in five years. Of the more than 9.2 million passenger cars in the Netherlands on January 1, 2023, 2,479,332 had an automatic transmission. That is 9 percent more than a year earlier. On January 1, automatic cars accounted for 26.9 percent of the Dutch vehicle fleet. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of cars with CVT in our country increased by 7 percent to 412,799 units. So an increase of 7 percent. Cars with CVT therefore account for 4.5 percent of the Dutch vehicle fleet.

Share of passenger cars with manual transmission in the Dutch fleet (2018-2023)

You might think that in those five years, more cars with an automatic, CVT or semi-automatic transmission were registered in percentage terms and that the share of cars with a manual gearbox has therefore become smaller. However, it is not that simple. The Dutch vehicle fleet has grown considerably over the past five years. On January 1, 2023, the passenger car fleet had 445,824 more cars than on January 1, 2018. Between the beginning of 2018 and January 2023, the number of automatic cars in the Netherlands increased by no less than 796,020. In the same period, the number of cars with CVT in our country increased by 93,153. In those five years, the number of cars with a semi-automatic/robotized manual gearbox decreased from 2,540 to 2,296. In the big picture, a negligible decline. The share of manual transmission cars in the Dutch fleet has not only decreased in percentage terms compared to five years ago. The car with a manual gearbox is also losing ground in absolute terms. Between January 1, 2022 and January 1, 2023, the number of cars with a manual transmission in our country increased by 499,095 – almost half a million! – down (-7.7 percent). Between 2022 and 2013 alone, more than 151,000 manual transmission cars will have disappeared from the Netherlands (-2.5 percent).

Have you recently bought a new or different car? Did you go for a manual or automatic transmission? Or for a car with CVT or semi-automatic? How important was the type of transmission in your choice of car?