Autoblog and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.Honda hit pause on manuals but it isn't the endHonda's decision to pause production of the Civic Si and Acura Integra A-Spec's six-speed manual after the 2026 model year looked like another nail in the coffin for affordable stick shifts. The company later clarified that both models are planned to return, but offered no timeline. Now, Honda has given enthusiasts another reason to hope: it still sees a future for manuals, even if that future is getting smaller.At a recent roundtable, American Honda sales executive Lance Woelfer acknowledged to Road&Track that manual transmissions are increasingly an enthusiast-only proposition. "There is a market there," he said, adding that it is "a smaller and smaller portion of the market that gets excited about it." Woelfer went further, admitting that the market will "probably continue to shrink honestly," but said Honda can still offer cars like the Si, Integra and Civic Type R because of their driving appeal. In other words, Honda isn't pretending the stick shift is about to make a mainstream comeback; it's accepting that enthusiasts may be the only customers left worth building one for.Honda Used To Put Manuals Almost EverywhereHondaView the 2 images of this gallery on the original articleAdvertisementAdvertisementHonda buyers could once choose a stick in relatively ordinary cars such as the Civic, Civic Hatchback, Accord and Fit, while enthusiast models including the Prelude, CR-Z, S2000 and various Civic Si and Type R generations kept the performance side of the tradition alive. Even the previous-generation Civic Hatchback lost its manual for 2025, leaving the Si and Type R as the only Honda-badged U.S. models with three pedals.The economics of that shift are hard to ignore. Manuals now account for less than 1 percent of U.S. new-vehicle production, according to EPA data. Yet manuals can still command strong loyalty when they're attached to enthusiast cars. The Acura Integra's manual take rate actually rose to 22 percent in 2025, while cars such as the Subaru BRZ posted even higher shares.The Si And Integra Should Come BackView the 2 images of this gallery on the original articleHonda's immediate problem isn't that it has suddenly decided manuals are obsolete. The company said production of the 1.5-liter turbo engine paired with the six-speed manual will be paused because of "evolving business conditions," with EPA certification requirements for 2027 and beyond cited in its original statement.AdvertisementAdvertisementHonda hasn't explained exactly what will change when the Civic Si and Integra A-Spec return, though. Assuming they'll reappear unchanged would be premature. But the company's latest comments make the broader strategy clearer: don't put manuals in cars where almost nobody buys them, but keep offering them where the remaining customers genuinely care.And that may be the most realistic way to keep the stick shift alive. The days of choosing a manual simply because it was the cheaper option are gone. Honda's remaining manuals will have to justify their existence through enthusiast appeal, which is precisely why the company still sees room for the Civic Si, Integra and Type R.This story was originally published by Autoblog on Aug 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.