Believe it or not, Mercedes still sells a couple of products with the manual gearbox overseas!
It's no surprise that manual gearboxes and diesel engines share a similar, if not an entirely common, fate! While the latter has been a victim of the notorious Dieselgate scandal, the former is witnessing falling customer demand partly because of the growing EV popularity, especially in regions like Europe. And it's not just a hypothesis, for it is further reinforced by a recently published report by the German website Automobilwoche, according to which Mercedes is planning to cease the production of manual gearbox-equipped models, most likely, from 2023 onwards.
According to the report, a Mercedes-Benz spokesperson has attributed this move to the ever-growing preference of new customers toward EVs or other electrified means of propulsion that are, by default, automatics. That said, it's not like the move will affect any of us greatly, for even in overseas markets, only a handful of versions of the A-Class, B-Class, and CLA are on sale with manual gearboxes. And, of course, markets like India have only known the three-pointed star for its automatic model offerings.
As for the timeline, the aforementioned models are due for a generation changeover in 2023. So, expect the plan to be carried out then.
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