Quote:
Originally Posted by Dadhawk
To some extent though, isn't this manufacturer bias and not buyer choice? Only a very few of these are cars are ordered. Most are purchased from spec cars sent to the dealer without an order.
If Toyota chooses to manufacture more ATs than MTs, and Subaru does the opposite, then those looking for an MT are more likely to buy what is essentially the same car from Subaru because they are more likely to have an MT in stock.
There is also a percentage of people that don't care which one they get, its just one of many options. They go to Toyota thinking the want a manual, Toyota only as an AT but everything else is spot on, they take the AT.
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Yup, that is 100% possible.
Subaru sells a lot more manuals as a %.
(2018)
https://jalopnik.com/u-s-buyers-stil...-th-1834945061
"Autoblog wrote about one of those bright spots Tuesday—Subaru buyers. Subaru sent Autoblog its 2018 take rates, which were impressive: The company sold 78 percent of BRZs with a manual, and an incredible 90 percent of WRXs sold with a clutch pedal instead of the car’s optional continuously variable transmission.
But Subaru’s manual take rates plummet outside of the BRZ and WRX, Autoblog wrote, with the next highest being 8 percent on the Impreza. That’s followed by 6 percent on the Crosstrek and 3 percent on the Forester, which no longer has a stick.
Subaru reported annual U.S. sales of 680,135 last year and said 47,000 of those were sticks, putting its overall manual sales at about 7 percent in 2018. And while 7 percent would be a catastrophic failure on any exam, this is the real world—and in the real world, it’s all relative."
Most other automakers I am aware of that offer manuals in their cars might hit 1%, and those models seem to sit on lots for months or years, going unsold. Other than the Yaris, Corolla, and 86, has Toyota had a another manual transmission car in their lineup in the past decade?
Subaru seems to be a bit of an outlier. They attract more buyers who are willing to drive (or demand) a manual.
We can analyze both brands in a lot of way, who comes into dealership, and so on.
I totally agree we don't have the whole story, but given the improvements made to the automatic, I'm sure that Toyota will continue to supply more automatics.