@GaryM Up here in Finland the amounts of new manual vs automatic transmission cars registered was still 50/50 10 years ago, so 10 years after the 2003 you cited as a "late transition". In 2020 new cars sold were still 20-25% manual (different sources say different figures). Add in to that the fact that the average age of cars here is around 13 years, and there are a lot of manuals still about. I admit I haven't driven one myself in a while though, possibly years (I don't own a car, and can't remember the specifics on all rentals). In 2023, however, only about 10% of new cars had manual transmission, but a big reason for this is that many models don't offer a manual option anymore. Automatics are still slightly more expensive, but not as much as they used to be.
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@GaryM Up here in Finland the amounts of new manual vs automatic transmission cars registered was still 50/50 10 years ago, so 10 years after the 2003 you cited as a "late transition". In 2020 new cars sold were still 20-25% manual (different sources say different figures). Add in to that the fact that the average age of cars here is around 13 years, and there are a lot of manuals still about. I admit I haven't driven one myself in a while though, possibly years (I don't own a car, and can't remember the specifics on all rentals). In 2023, however, only about 10% of new cars had manual transmission, but a big reason for this is that many models don't offer a manual option anymore. Automatics are still slightly more expensive, but not as much as they used to be.