Can you drive stick? Manual cars slowly disappearing from Dutch fleet

Almost half of all cars in the Netherlands are now automatics, a doubling compared to nearly ten years ago. This shift is primarily due to the strong rise of electric and hybrid cars. These cars are equipped with automatic transmission systems as standard.

According to RDC, the data company that tracks vehicle registrations, 42 percent of all cars are now automatics, compared to 21 percent in 2017. “The manual transmission era, the standard for Dutch roads for decades, is visibly coming to an end,” said the company.

Nevertheless, the majority of Dutch people still drive manuals. People with petrol cars, in particular, prefer to shift gears themselves, as is also evident from this year’s new car sales. So far this year, 63 percent of newly sold petrol cars had a manual gearbox.

“The rise of the automatic transmission is inevitable: hybrid and electric cars are supplied exclusively with automatics, while comfort and fuel efficiency are becoming increasingly important factors. Manufacturers are hardly developing manual models anymore," said Mirjam van der Esch, manager at RDC.

People over 65, in particular, no longer want to shift gears themselves. Young people also prefer an automatic, but they are more likely to buy a cheaper second-hand manual car.

RDC does not know the car type for nearly 380,000 of the total of almost 10 million registered vehicles.

According to the data company, the manual car will not disappear completely from Dutch roads, but will slowly become a minority.