A recent study has found that fewer Americans own or can drive cars with manual gears. According to U.S. News and World Report, only 18% of drivers in the U.S. can use a manual, or ‘stick shift,’ car.
This decrease is partly due to better automatic gear systems and fuel efficiency in modern cars. Nowadays, only about 5% of new cars sold have manual gears, a big drop from 25% in 1987. Also, cars with a manual gear system tend to sell for about $2,000 less than those with automatic gears.
Source:
https://www.transportation.gov/
https://highways.dot.gov/
https://www.cargroup.org/
CBS Global