It looks like Audi fans wanting to row their own gears will soon be relegated to used car classifieds. Starting from the 2019 model year, Audi is ditching the six-speed manual transmission option for its A4 sedan and A5 coupe in the U.S., according to Car and Driver. Since those two cars are the only ones to still come with a stick in the company’s entire American lineup, this means that Audi will no longer sell any new manuals in the U.S. of A. Insert sad trombone noise here.
This is the same company, remember, that offered a gated six-speed shifter on the R8 just a few years ago and currently shares a parent company with Porsche—makers of some of the finest manual gearboxes in the business.
Unsurprisingly, the report says the discontinuation was the result of low demand. Out of all the A4s Audi sells in this country, just five percent are fitted with the theft-deterring three pedals. According to the company’s annual sales report, Audi of America moved almost 35,000 A4s in 2017, meaning less than 1,750 manual copies were sold in the entire year. That works out to around five or six every business day…for the entire country.
The rest came with the seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch automatic that’ll live in all A4s and A5s from here on out.
Audi’s parent-company Volkswagen recently confirmed that it is dropping the manual for its Golf R hot hatch in the U.K. but will continue to offer the standard transmission R in the U.S., citing a healthy 50 percent take-rate.