• Nearly 20 percent of Acura Integra buyers opt for a manual transmission.
It's often said that the manual gearbox is dying. While it's true that younger drivers are less interested in the stick shift than they used to be, it's also true that the manual box is often only offered with an entry-level trim level. Those who want to row the gears AND have a fully equipped model are mostly just out of luck.
When that combination is offered, more buyers opt for it. Case in point, the Integra, which can be had with a manual box in the highest trim level, A-Spec. Buyers who aren’t forced to compromise often don’t, it seems.
Between May 2022 and April 2023, of the 19,643 models sold, 19 percent (3,732 units) were equipped with a 6-speed manual gearbox. And that percentage is set to rise, as the recently unveiled Integra Type S variant will only be offered with a manual gearbox.
Of course, this is less than in the model's early days, when the manual gearbox attracted 70% of buyers. Nowadays, it's strictly the driving enthusiasts who go for that option.
There was more interesting data shared by Acura. We learn, for example, that the Integra appeals to the youngest customers in the segment. In fact, 36 percent are under 35. Also, 70 percent of buyers are what the company identifies as conquests, i.e. people who owned a vehicle from another brand before turning to Acura. Good news for the manufacturer.
The company acknowledges that some new Integra may have already owned an older-generation Integra in the past, however. Making them re-conquests, if you will.
With electrification pushing ahead, we can guess that the days of the manual transmission are numbered, even developers continue to work on a form of manual gearbox for electric vehicles.
