Honda Just Says No To Fake Manual Transmissions

Just Say No

While it's quite painful for we enthusiasts to admit, the manual transmission as we know it is living on borrowed time, and that has been the case for a while now. Fewer and fewer new cars are available with a row-your-own gearbox these days, and even though they're being replaced with quick-shifting automatics isn't much of a consolation prize for some. However, with news emerging that some automakers are considering using "fake" manuals in future models, Honda won't be among them.

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Lacking Soul

Aside from smaller take rates for manuals, all-electric vehicles typically don't utilize transmissions at all, at least with multiple gears. There are some exceptions - such as the Porsche Taycan - but it still doesn't allow us to shift our own gears. Aside from a lack of sound, this is one of the biggest beef enthusiasts have with all-electric vehicles.

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Making EVs ICE-Like

As such, manufacturers are working to add some passion to their EV offerings, such as Dodge's decision to give its Charger EV concept an "exhaust system" with different tunes, a la sounds. On the flip side, Toyota also recently filed a patent for an EV with a manual transmission, though it certainly isn't anything like the mechanical units we're used to.

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Bold Decision

However, Honda recently announced that it has no intentions of selling future EVs with these fake manuals, so we won't be rowing our own gears in either of the automaker's forthcoming EV sports cars. But then again, we're not so certain that enthusiasts will care for simulated shifts anyway.

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No Replacement

"Artificially, we can do it. Mechanically, it is not easy," Honda's head of electrification, Shinji Aoyama, told Car & Driver in a recent interview. Meanwhile, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe noted that he wants Honda's future EVs to be "edgy, but also added, "I'm not sure if we can replace the manual transmission."

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No Fakes

Aoyama is clearly opposed to the idea of faking the experience of shifting through gears, and he even likened it to "an extension of active sound control," taking a bit of a jab at automakers who are trying to add fake elements to make EVs more attractive to enthusiasts.

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Appreciate Them Now

However, this doesn't mean that Honda is giving up on finding other ways to make EVs fun, as it insists that there will be enthusiast-focused models coming in the future. But for now, we should probably appreciate the Honda vehicles we can buy with old-fashioned manuals, such as the Civic Si, Type R, and Acura Integra.

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