[TusharK]

Mercedes-Benz has announced that it will not develop any more manual transmissions due to the high costs associated with their development.



Marcus Schaeffer, head of R&D operations, Mercedes-Benz, has been quoted saying that the company will "eliminate manual transmissions" as part of its cost-cutting initiatives.

As far as the Indian market is concerned, Mercedes does not offer a manual transmission in any of the cars that are currently listed for sale.

Schaeffer reportedly said that there will be a substantial reduction in platforms and combustion engines as well. This isn't surprising as most carmakers are slowly transitioning to hybrids and electric vehicles.

Mercedes has just launched the EQC - its first electric SUV in India. It is priced at Rs. 99.30 lakh (ex-showroom, India).

Source

[Reinhard]

An inevitable step finally. (And a saddening one for the die hard fans of MTs like me.) While I don't buy much into the "high cost of their development" reason - given the premium buyers are all moving to the convenience of an AT (of one type or the other) in their cars from the smallest to the largest - it doesn't make sense in maintaining the inventory of MTs, SOPs for maintenance & spare management. Just another consolidation for cost saving & ease of supply chain management in general.

With the sunrise of mainstream EVs in sight now, certainly logical to stop further development of MTs for ICE installation. The current ones are quite sorted & versatile. They can serve the purpose till the EVs actually become completely mainstream in most segments.

Won't be a surprise if more of MBs peers follow these steps soon.

[CEF_Beasts]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Won't be a surprise if more of MBs peers follow these steps soon.

BMW just announced the latest-gen manual transmission M3 and M4, till the EVs doesn’t get properly acquainted in each country length and breadth wise we will still see manufacturers continue selling manual till the last IC engines is made!

Also these brands have such brilliant automatic-engine combos with lightning fast shifts that people prefer automatics over manuals.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

BMW just announced the latest-gen manual transmission M3 and M4, till the EVs doesn’t get properly acquainted in each country length and breadth wise we will still see manufacturers continue selling manual till the last IC engines is made!

Of course - the news isn't stopping MTs anyway. MB will also continue to sell MT cars. The news is about stopping any further development of new MTs. Which I think is understandable given the current gen transmissions are very good & evolved.

So while we'll continue to see new / next generation MT cars from these brands - I still suspect others will announce stopping investment in any further MT box R&D in near future.

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

While I don't buy much into the "high cost of their development" reason....SOPs for maintenance & spare management.

While the transmission develpoment doesn't cost much, MB still needs to update it's manual GBs match the power of newer engines and size constraints of new platforms. Maintaining an inventory of spares for GBs and clutches will be the headache of local dealers and distributors.

I'm actually surprised it took they so much time to get rid of the stick shift as most major countries in the EU have decided to ban IC engines in the next 10-15 years.

[GTO]

Mercedes is basically following market trends - everyone from hatchback owners to supercar buyers are moving to ATs in a big way. Heck, even BHPians are (The 2017 Poll: Manual vs Automatic Gearbox). For the kind of cars that Mercedes makes, I would prefer an AT in all of them.

In this area, India was ahead of the world . Indians stopped buying Mercedes MTs in the end-2000s and thus, Mercedes dropped it from their Indian line-up over a decade ago. IIRC, my C220 6-speed MT was one of the last MT models sold by Mercedes India.

[SID2997]

This indeed is the road to transition from cars to appliances with bland character (my two cents, highly subjective though). I just hope that BMW doesn’t follow suit, especially with the M Cars. At least Mercedes could have stuck with limited edition/one-off manual variants in their performance cars division. I am 23 and I am afraid that the generation maybe 10 years younger than me wouldn’t be able to experience the unadulterated joy of using a slick gearbox with a high revving na engine while learning to drive or getting their first car.

[RedTerrano]

As per this article, Audi stopped MTs in US at least in 2019
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/05/audi...ick-shift.html

Mercedes-Benz has announced that it will not develop any more manual transmissions due to the high costs associated with their development.

Can someone please explain how this is true? I mean in case of AT, there is a gearbox, it's just not manually controlled. So purely from the cost perspective, that means what extra cost? The stick shift lever mechanism?
I am not sure I understand the cost angle.

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

As per this article, Audi stopped MTs in US at least in 2019
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/05/audi...ick-shift.html


Can someone please explain how this is true? I mean in case of AT, there is a gearbox, it's just not manually controlled. So purely from the cost perspective, that means what extra cost? The stick shift lever mechanism?
I am not sure I understand the cost angle.

Although the costs for R&D won't be even be half as much as an auto transmission, the quantity of manual transmission sold won't be feasible in terms of scale. I guess the ratio for manual to auto boxes sold by MB will be around 1:10 which means very little return on investment.

After all, auto transmissions have come a long way and the reasons to have a manual transmission beyond emotional reasons is negligible.

[Gokuljayaraj]

I suppose that this has always been coming. As we move into the electric era, manual transmissions will be no more. I’m one among those who absolutely loves the stick. Downshifting and pressing the accelerator down to watch the engine red line as I complete an overtake is what makes driving a pleasure for me. It will be a sad day when I need to sit in a car that does the driving for me and I’m just a glorified passenger.

[theMAG]

In an automobile world embracing automation and autonomy, this was expected. Its fair to say that by the time our next generation is of driving age, they will likely not be aware of most of "legacy" car technology that we have experienced over the past decades of motoring.

[lemedico]

but won't there still be paddles?!

[ChargedGarage]

I recently sold off my last manual car in the family. It is remembered sometimes by my dad whenever he gets a chance to drive another manual vehicle (TD/Friends etc) but otherwise he blissfully happy in automatic vehicles. I too have come to the conclusion that manual vehicles are best suited in sporty vehicles being driven on twisting roads where the owner is already an expert at throttle and braking and wants further engagement through getting to engage the clutch and gearing.

99% of the Mercedes around the world are not being driven in this manner and instead sit in bumper to bumper crawling traffic or blasting along a straight Autobahn. For both these situations an automatic is best suited so Mercedes dropping further development of the manual gearbox is not such a loss to the enthusiast world.

On the other hand, the day that Porsche drops the manual gearbox is the day I will personally shed a tear.

[volkman10]

Mercedes to gradually eliminate manual gearbox from 2023.

With increasing electrification, we see that customer demand is shifting towards electric mobility components, batteries and (partially) electric drive systems.

In the current portfolio, models of the A- and B-Class as well as the CLA with manual transmission are still available. The switch would be in 2023, when exactly, the company did not want to announce for competitive reasons.


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