Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Tele man
FWIW -- from Dale Jewetts' article, "Americans Prefer Two Pedals to Three," Automotive Industries, November 1999, page 15:
Overall Industry 1998 Calendar Year:
• North America....83% Automatic / 17% Manual.
• Asia-Pacific.....47% Automatic / 51% Manual.
• Western Europe...13% Automatic / 87% Manual.
• Global...........45% Automatic / 55% Manual.
General Motors 1998 Calendar Year
• North America....90% Automatic / 10% Manual.
• Asia-Pacific.....60% Automatic / 40% Manual.
• Western Europe...90% Automatic / 10% Manual.
• Global...........65% Automatic / 35% Manual.
...sorta 'explains' *why* GM almost went under, ie: they don't "read" their customers very well at all. Instead they push automatics and only reluctantly offer manuals.
|
The Western Europe difference is incredible. I do wonder if part of it is the type of cars they sell, for example, in NZ GM's most common vehicles are large sedans (the Holden Commodore, used to be sold in the US as the Pontiac G8) and coupe-utilities (like
this).
I also find it interesting how Asia (in particular Japan) has a lot of manuals, because NZ imports used vehicles from Japan, yet almost all of them are autos. I suspect that a lot of the time, dealers are making the assumption that people prefer auto, so they import less manuals.