The manual gearbox has become rare in new cars across most markets. It did not disappear because drivers stopped enjoying it, but because the arguments that once favoured it were reversed one by one.
What manuals used to win on
For decades a manual was lighter, cheaper to build, more efficient and more durable than the automatic alternatives available.
Early automatics used a torque converter that allowed slip between engine and gearbox, and that slip consumed energy continuously.
With fewer ratios available, they also held the engine away from its efficient range more often than a driver choosing gears would.
How automatics overtook them
Ratio counts rose, lock-up clutches removed converter slip at cruise, and control software gained the ability to select ratios from throttle behaviour, road load and navigation data.
Dual-clutch designs eliminated the interruption in drive entirely, and continuously variable transmissions allowed the engine to be held at its most efficient point regardless of road speed.
The result is that a modern automatic typically returns better certified consumption than the manual version of the same car.
Why certification decided it
Emissions and consumption are measured on a defined test procedure, and a manual is tested with prescribed shift points rather than driver discretion.
Since a manufacturer must meet fleet average targets, a gearbox that certifies worse costs money in a way that has nothing to do with how customers drive.
Offering both also means certifying both, which duplicates a substantial testing expense for a version selling in small numbers.
What electrification finished
Hybrid systems need to control engine speed independently of road speed, which is difficult when a driver is choosing the ratio.
Electric drivetrains produce full torque from rest across a wide speed range, so a multi-ratio gearbox has little to contribute at all.
A manual has no function in either architecture, which removes it from the majority of new powertrain development.
Where it survives
Manuals remain in markets where cars are cheaper and simpler, and where the cost difference still matters to buyers.
They also persist in a narrow band of sports cars sold specifically on driver involvement, where the gearbox is part of what is being purchased rather than a means of transmitting power.
Those cars are produced in small numbers and priced accordingly, which makes the manual a specialist option rather than the default it once was.
Even there the gearbox is frequently carried over from an earlier generation rather than newly engineered, because the volumes involved no longer justify developing one from scratch.