Has this been officially confirmed? I've seen sticks in a few of the promo shots for the 2012 so far, so there's no way they're getting rid of it. Maybe just no longer importing to NA?

example:

 

Confirmed and argued about with MBUSA C Class product manager...starting with 2012. They dismiss us as being too small in volume. You must have seen European photos, as this decision is for the USA...don't even know MBCanada plan.

 

The manual trans is a requirement for me...I guess the pool of contenders for my next new car is ever shrinking.

 

Why are the manuals dying out?

 

Ever increasing traffic combined with ever improving automatics and automated manuals...
I don't care if it is slower and/or gets worse fuel economy, I love the mechanical connection to the car when driving. I have been in a loaner with an auto for well over a week and although it has a great auto, I don't enjoy it anywhere near as much as shifting for myself.

 

Several factors contributed to the downward spiral of manual transmissions at MBUSA. It starts with not identifying/targeting the psychographic which desires that much driving passion/involvement within the MB brand in the US. MB is increasingly focusing on buyers seeking comfort, luxury, status (being seen in a Benz) and the assistance of technology to take care of them. They state their primary appeal is to buyers seeking "design". I think they have relegated any and all enthusiast appeal in their company to the sub-brand of AMG.

Those few C Class manuals which were scheduled became essentially an "afterthought" (2-3% of US C Class) and primarily needed as an entry level advertiseable price leader. Note that almost all the manuals were low content (P1 or less) cars. They have too little volume to then receive any specific marketing support, so those seeking a stick don't come across any marketing messages targeted to bring them in. With low inventory, and infrequent shoppers, dealers sell what they have and don't reorder for stock, and down it goes until MBUSA convinces itself that sticks have too little volume potential to justify the product complexity to maintain them.

Adding to the MBUSA momentum to cancel manuals is that the variable cost of a manual trans is usually higher than that for an automatic trans, and the auto is priceable. The industry has been charging about a grand of price for automatics for decades, for a transmission which costs less than the stick. So, if MBUSA convinces themselves they can meet their sales targets without the manual, their overall profitability increases.

For the opposite approach, consider how Audi and BMW target enthusiast buyers. I assume some C Class manual transmission volume will defect to those brands on the next cycle.

 

Looks like my link stopped working but it was indeed a euro model coupe.

I can prob live with the automatic if the rest of the car appeals to me enough.

 

I specifically looked for a manual tranny and had the dealer get the car from someone else. I don't think I would have bought the car without the stick. Yes, I had to settle for a car with less options but I didn't mind that one bit. I'm glad I got a stick and it's a shame I won't be able to find them in the future.

 

....that is what they are counting on for at least some of the current manual trans sales volume......unfortunately.

 

i guess this kills my dreams of them coming out with a c63 in manual one day. lol

 

Well at least the new SLK still has a manual option...and the new model is the first one I actually like.

 

i love the 6spd but why MB! i was dreaming on buying a C63 6spd one day i guess i will be buying one with an automatic transmission.

 

http://www.motortrend.com/features/c...ist/index.html