No, not everyone drives a manual in the U.K.—a lot do, but the number is declining

By Gary S. Vasilash

One of the things that isn’t often taken into account when looking at the number of vehicles sold in a given time period is that that number is additive to what exists on the road at that time.

Last year S&P Global Mobility calculated the average age of light vehicles in the U.S. was 12.6 years old.

From the standpoint of vehicles in operation (VIO) last January there were 286 million vehicles rolling around in the U.S.

So making a change (e.g., percentage of overall EVs in operation) will take a considerably longer time than might be thought.

An example of this are numbers from a British automotive data company, cap hpi, on types of transmissions in vehicles on the U.K. roads.

It found that at the end of 2024 automatic transmissions are in 29.3% of the U.K. car parc.

Which means more than two thirds of the vehicles are still manuals.

Yes, they found there is a considerable uptake in the number of automatics and a decrease in those buying vehicles with manuals: over 1.5 million new vehicles with automatics registered in 2024; 274,000 with manuals registered.

And the trend toward automatics is seemingly going to continue.

Unlike in the U.S. where a driver’s license is a driver’s license, in the U.K. there are differences in terms of the gearbox.

Stacey Ward, senior data director at cap hip, noted, “Additionally, more new drivers are opting for automatic-only driving licenses. In 2012, there were just 550,000 drivers with automatic licenses. In 2022, there were over 1.1 million, with this figure expected to continue to increase. Estimates suggest that by next year, a quarter of learners will qualify with a license limited to automatic cars only.”

The proverbial die has been cast.