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Volkswagen Golf R enthusiasts living in the United Kingdom, I have some bad news for you: Volkswagen will drop the availability of a manual transmission from its portfolio starting in 2019. The decision was made due to the low demand for the three-pedal option.
The Drive learned of this important change to its U.K. Golf R models through a Volkswagen of America spokesperson, who confirmed the change via email and also mentioned that U.S.-bound Golf Rs will still offer the old-school transmission. In fact, he confirmed that demand for manuals was still at healthy levels in the United States.
“We sell about 50 percent of Golf Rs with manual transmissions here in the U.S. – it is a higher percentage than GTI,” said VW spokesperson Mark Gillies.
While this announcement might calm down many Golf R enthusiasts in the U.S., we are not sure if the manual transmission will once again be offered as an option in the upcoming Mk VIII Golf R models, and VW did not comment on the matter. However, VW-owned Audi recently announced that starting in 2019, it will be removing the manual transmission option from the A4 sedan and the A5 coupe—which means there won’t be a single Audi model available with a manual transmission in the United States.
If the trend of axing the manual transmission in cars manufactured by the Volkswagen Group continues, the row-it-yourself gearbox might soon come to an end.
