Honda Is Still Committed to Manuals Amid Si PauseAndi HendrickFans of fun-to-drive Hondas were dealt a blow when the company announced a pause of production on manual Civic Si and Acura Integra A-Spec models last month. That news came with a claim that the brand has a "plan for both trims to return," but it is never encouraging to see an affordable, manual-equipped performance offering put on pause.Fortunately, Honda says it isn't giving up on the stick shift any time soon. In a roundtable held ahead of last Sunday's IndyCar Freedom 250 in Washington D.C., American Honda sales executive Lance Woelfer noted that stick shifts are "something that consumers still get excited about, but it's probably the enthusiasts like us that feel it's most important to them.""There is a market there," he continued. "I think there's opportunity there. It continues to be a smaller and smaller portion of the market that gets excited about it, but the people who experience it and learn to drive it, they want that. It's a small portion of the market—and I think it will probably continue to shrink honestly—but because of the fun to drive, we can continue to have a model like the Si, Integra, or Civic Type R that offer that. We don't see growing demand, just kind of, excitement from those of us who enjoy driving a stick shift."AdvertisementAdvertisementWoelfer said that Honda can "kind of deliver" a similar experience for less enthusiastic buyers with paddle shifting, presumably nodding to the transmission-simulating system on the current Prelude. "But it's just not the same as a Type R, hitting the clutch and getting that rev matched. I love it... We see a little less demand, but we'll continue to have the offerings that we've announced."For now, those announced products remain just the Civic Type R and Integra Type S, plus the promised return of lower-level manual models in both lineups. Given that the Prelude is built around the Civic Hybrid's unique transmission-free powertrain and the company is not known to be developing any other sports cars, it seems unlikely that any other six-speeds will show up in the Honda lineup any time soon.You Might Also LikeIf You Can Only Own One Car, Make It One of TheseThese Are the Most Popular Cars by State
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