Automobilwoche cites an anonymous insider claiming that cars with three pedals continue losing sales year to year, forcing Mercedes-Benz to ditch the stick shift completely in 2023.
The company officially announced a couple of years ago that it saw no future for the manual transmission, but provided no specific terms. Its current manual inventory largely consists of A- and B-Class vehicles. There are also some stick-shift CLAs around, but only on select markets.
The insider pointed out that increased interest towards electrified vehicles was yet another reason for Mercedes to axe manual, the publication reports. The German automaker calculated last year that hybrids and EVs would make 50 percent of its total car sales by late 2020s.
