[KineticLensman]

Like James Bond's Aston Martin with a satnav/tracking device in 1964's Goldfinger. Kids would know what that was but they might not understand why Bond had to continually shift some sort of stick to change the car's gear.

[anthk]

Gear shifting it's still a thing in Europe, and mandatory if you want to get your driver's license.

[prmoustache]

you can get a driver license with an automatic. But it just means you can only drive automatics.

It would have been a huge deal not being able to drive manuals 20y ago but hybrid and ev all being automatic it is not that much of a downside nowadays unless you want to buy old cars or borrow friend's car. Most renting fleets have autos available nowadays.

[pjmlp]

Our family owns a Ford Focus hybrid in Europe, I can tell you they are not all automatic.

[inkyoto]

At this point, it is a historical artefact that will cease to exist soon enough.

Electric vehicles do not have gearboxes as there are no converters, so there is nothing to shift up or down. A few performance EV's that have been announced (and maybe even have released) with a gear stick, do so for nostalgic reasons and the gear shift + the accompanying experience is simulated entirely in the software.

[zelos]

The Porsche Taycan has two forward gears, but it's apparently the only EV that does: https://www.wired.com/story/electric-car-two-speed-transmiss...

[lesny_ludek]

New Mercedes CLA has that too

[pjmlp]

At the rate EV are being sold in Europe, that soon enough is a couple of decades away.

I certainly don't plan to buy anything but hybrids, until EV prices and ranges are at comparable levels.

Our current hybrid has a six gear box.