Survey: Leica M EV1 – Future or mistake?

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1 hour ago, jaapv said:

Which is basically an USA thing

"Vox Populi, vox Dei."

Most Murcan drivers can't be arsed to learn a clutch-and-stick (just as, it appears, some Leica-M wannabees can't be arsed to learn how to use a rangefinder. 😜 )

(However physical disabilities, also as with the M-EV1, understandably play a role).

There are some Murcan manual-shift cars still made - but realistically, they simply do not sell well overall, so are now the "luxury" option (which will typically NOT include rental fleets, except by special request). Can't stay in business making things people won't buy.

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/g20734564/manual-transmission-cars/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=dda_ga_cd_md_bm_prog_org_us_g20734564&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19550043290&gbraid=0AAAAACfH9WhVUnC_S5V7CS9Lux8ssYXGX&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_rG4l-HbkAMVtjWtBh1plxKREAAYASAAEgK7tvD_BwE

Might be worth noting there are no Stellantis/Chrysler cars on that list, except Jeeps.

And Stellantis is headquartered in............Hoofddorp.  😉😁😜🤪 Those danged Dutch!

 

 

[Tailwagger]

1 hour ago, jaapv said:

Which is basically an USA thing - Before the advent of EVs which are transmission-less by nature I had never even driven an automatic vehicle - Oh yes -once, when visiting the USA. Hated the thing. 

Not really. US manufacturers historically, perhaps, but by no means the entirety of US consumers, at least prior to the rise of the SUV.  As with you, I've driven manuals all my life and still do, my first one being a 1960 Alfa 2000 Spyder, my current one being a 911.  For decades many of us here stateside looked to Europe to provide us with on road entertainment, but that ship has now sailed.  The Euros have been killing off the remaining manuals over here for the past decade despite decent demand at least on the sports car/sedan side of things.  Much grousing, for example, about VW, which has killed the base Golf in the US and is only giving us DCTs in the GTI/R, particularly odd given the target audience.  The quintessential sports sedan here, the BMW 3/4, lost its manual years ago with only the baby Ms still offering it.  The excuses made by VW/BMW was that the US is the only spot on the globe that wanted 6 spds, no demand elsewhere, too expensive to certify under US regs, so they're dead. For Porsche USA the current take rate on manuals for the 911/718 is still around 40% despite the DCTs performance advantage.  And of course, all the supercar folks in Europe killed manual offerings long ago (though admittedly a few are now considering re-introducing them).  

But to be honest, having owned a few DCTs more recently, I've grown to accept that as long as I can fully control which gear I'm in with no nannie intervention, I really dont care much about having clutch pedal as opposed to flicking a paddle.  If its good enough for F1, its good enough for me.  Oh and it should be mentioned that several EVs actually do have a multi-speed transmission, the Taycan comes to mind for example, not that you can directly control them mind you.

You might find the list of remaining manuals available here in the US  interesting.  From what I read about whats available in the UK, our list is not much shorter. The main difference being there simply arent any econo boxes of any kind sold here anymore.