[__derek__]

As far as I can tell, the manual is no longer the cheap option in the US. I assume that's because it uses exotic equipment put into thousands of cars rather than the standard stuff put into millions of cars:

Fewer manual cars produced => lower scale efficiencies => higher delivered costs

It could also reflect the willingness of enthusiasts to pay more for a manual transmission (or to avoid the automatic).

BTW, the average new car price is nearly $50k. RIP to the $35k latest/greatest.

[LorenPechtel]

My experience in 2013 was manuals were bottom of the heap, bare bones cars and sport cars, nothing else in the sort of stuff I was looking at. I suspect the latter is what's driving up the cost.

[__derek__]

The last time I bought a car was in 2012, and I had to wait for a manual to arrive on the lot. I haven't looked, so I don't know whether they're more readily available nowadays. I hear there's been a lot of change in dealer inventory in the last decade.