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Behind Software and Manual Transmissions

By - September 13, 2013

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Manual transmissions will be offered in Mustangs and Miatas for many years to come. Why? Because the customers demands it and the take rate in these cars is very high. But when the take rate drops to 5% or less, the manufacturers start to look at the costs associated with offering manuals. Namely, the software costs. Jalopnik just ran an interesting piece on this:

To develop, test, homologate, and certify an MTX [manual transmission – Ed.] variant of a vehicle platform is very costly. Probably more costly than the borderline MTX enthusiast might be willing to pay. It’s not just the hardware which can get costly for a well synthesized box – It’s the software. Whether we like it or not, software drives modern day cars. Engine, Transmission, and ESP/ABS/TCS systems all run on software. Sure, the base software for the control systems can be carried over, but the calibration for these systems is not trivial by any means, and requires significant man-years of development and several prototype test properties in multiple environments to develop, test, and certify performance and safety.

So when that cool station wagon you want doesn’t come with an option for a manual, there’s your reason:  There wasn’t enough demand to justify the added development costs.

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