Does the 2022 Honda Civic Represent the Last of a Kind?

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

We reported yesterday that the 2022 Honda Civic hatchback will offer customers a manual transmission.

Could it be the last Civic that does so? Or, at least, the last non-performance Civic (Si, Type-R) that offers a stick?

After all, the Honda dropped the manual from the Accord sedan this year after much talk about keeping the three-pedal flame alive when the car was first redesigned. I don’t have numbers in front of me, but I can’t imagine manual-transmission take rates are high.

Not to mention that electrification is likely on the horizon for compact, mainstream cars like Civic and while it’s not impossible to offer manuals with electrified vehicles — Honda itself offered a manual CR-Z — it is unusual. It is likely easier, from an engineering standpoint, and perhaps less costly, to use automatic transmissions with electrified vehicles. Not to mention that some electrified vehicles don’t even really use a transmission — some vehicles use electric motors to more or less directly drive the wheels.

I’m generalizing there, obviously, but the point is that there’s a chance that this Civic is the last one to offer three pedals. With the possible exception of the performance models, of course.

Or maybe it won’t be. The electrification shift is moving in fits and starts, and the manual may still have a place even after the market moves. Maybe there are enough Civic buyers who will tick the option box for a manual to convince Honda product planners that there will be enough takers to make it worth the cost.

Personally, I am optimistic that the Civic will hold out as a last bastion of manual transmissions for as long it can, but I’ve been wrong before. Many times. And wishful thinking — “I hope the manual remains available in the Civic” — can easily run afoul of reality, and lose.

Then again, sometimes we do get pleasantly surprised.

[Image: Honda]

Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • Moparmann Moparmann on Jun 12, 2021

    It's a vicious circle, the dealers don't order manuals/people who want them can't find them...the manufacturers penalize those wanting manuals by making them available ONLY in the the lowest spec trim/most putrid color combos...all of which (IMO) has driven down the take rate. Honda no longer makes ANYTHING that I'm interested in, since they dropped two door coupes. But then, I'm no longer the target demographic! It's hell growing older! :-)

  • Derbagger Derbagger on Jun 14, 2021

    This is blue water thinking. While everyone is in a feeding frenzy for crossovers,continue selling a manual compact. While there are fewer people who want one,there are fewer options giving you a more captive market. Hey,an Si hatch will be on my short list...

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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