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Motorists in Germany are increasingly doing without gear stick and clutch.

According to the latest figures from market researcher DAT, almost 58 percent of all new cars up to and including November this year were equipped with an automatic transmission.

The share of manual operations has fallen by a little more than two percentage points compared to the previous year.

And it could go back even further in December.

One reason for this are the electric cars, whose sales have grown by three-digit percentages in recent months.

They have no manual transmission, and many do not even have a gearbox.

But it's not just about electrification: The departure from manual gearshifts represents a whole range of trends in the automotive market - from technical progress and digitalization to changes in driver training.

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Ultimately, with the clutch, a piece of automotive culture also dies, which was cultivated very differently in Germany than in many other countries.

Most of the younger drivers only know terms like double-declutching and double-clutch from stories from the past.

And also the joke: "Greetings from the transmission, the gear is in" will probably no longer be understandable for everyone in a few years.

From April 1, 2021, learner drivers in Germany no longer have to take their test in a car with a manual transmission in order to be able to control a manual switch.

Driving license with automatic transmission

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This is what the Federal Ministry of Transport of Andreas Scheuer (CSU) decided after long discussions.

The corresponding ordinance was announced in the Federal Law Gazette at the beginning of December.

The former automatic driver's license is thus de facto abolished.

It is now sufficient for the full class B driver's license if the examinee has learned how to use the circuit in the driving school.

Source: Getty;

Infographic WORLD

From the perspective of the ministry, this regulation will make traffic “safer and more sustainable” because the learner drivers can now use vehicles with alternative drives and highly automated driving functions.

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In fact, driving instructors had advocated the new regulation, for example, so that electric cars could be used for the exams.

Automatic car as a fuel sucker?

In real traffic, your students will probably be confronted with gearshifts for a few more years, at least if they first drive a small used car.

In contrast to the new registrations, the majority of vehicles here are still on the road with a clutch - according to DAT, their share is around two-thirds of the stock.

It looks very different with new cars.

Especially in the premium segment.

For example, if you click through the configurator for the new BMW 4 Series, you will find seven drive variants for the Coupé, but only one of them has a manual transmission.

This car is the sporty M version of the 4 Series with 480 hp and a consumption of 10.8 liters of petrol per 100 kilometers.

In no other variant does the 4 Series swallow as much fuel.

According to the manufacturer, even the 30 hp M version with automatic transmission consumes 0.6 liters less - and achieves 100 kilometers per hour 0.3 seconds faster.

Of course, given their motorization, both cars are extremely CO2 emitters.

But that's another story.

The example shows that the old view that automatic cars are bad fuel guzzlers has long been outdated.

"The software behind the eight-speed automatic always engages the most efficient gear," says a BMW spokesman.

This is hardly possible by hand in this form.

Engineers have also refuted the prejudice that the automatic system is lame and sluggish and turned it into the opposite.

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Porsche advertises, for example, that its seven-speed dual clutch transmission makes the 718 models significantly livelier and faster.

In contrast to manual transmission, the pulling force is not interrupted with this type of automatic.

The 718 Spyder gets to 100 km / h in 3.9 seconds - half a second faster than with the manual transmission.

In addition, the gearboxes allow the driving characteristics of the car to be adjusted depending on the mood and route.

Programs like “Sport” or “Individual” in the Porsche are also familiar to the drivers of other premium cars.

Change at Daimler

At Mercedes-Benz, where every car has also been available in an automatic version since the 1960s, customers have largely changed over on their own.

Far more than 90 percent of the models are sold as automatic versions.

The demand for hand controls is so low that the company has decided to phase them out with the new generations of vehicles.

For example, Daimler board member Markus Schäfer announced in October that new model series would only come onto the market as automatic variants.

Given the demand, the protests by clutch purists should be limited.

In addition to increasing convenience for customers, the end of the manual transmission also means cost advantages for the manufacturer.

For Daimler, this is a key factor: the number of variants of the models is to be reduced in the future, fewer different engines and fewer types of transmissions will make production easier and cheaper.

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The development and approval effort is reduced - and customers hardly notice it.

The fact that automatic transmissions are more expensive is less important in premium price categories.

For price-sensitive customers: The VW Golf with automatic currently costs almost 2000 euros more than the basic version with manual transmission.

BMW also has a cheaper car with a manual gearbox on offer: the 3 Series with the smallest diesel engine (150 hp) actually costs a good 2000 euros less than the automatic version.

It consumes a little more for this and does not accelerate as quickly.

In addition, the handset has a serious technical disadvantage: modern assistance systems do not work with it.

At BMW, for example, the Driving Assistant Professional cannot be combined with a manual transmission.

This is also logical, because the car can of course only take over the stop & go function or active cruise control without the driver intervening if he is able to change gear himself.

The next step in the development of the automobile - autonomous driving - will also mean the end of manual transmission.

80 years after General Motors put the automatic on the market in series in the USA, paired with digitalization, it is finally on its triumphal march.

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Clutch and gear lever are becoming a niche product for enthusiasts, just as they are in the BMW M4.

In all other vehicles, the car itself will take command of the gear change - and in a decade, it will also take control of the accelerator and brake.

Even an automatic driver's license will then hardly be needed.