Volkswagen had already announced that it would no longer sell cars with internal combustion engines in Europe until 2033 or at the very latest 2035, which would automatically imply the end of manual gearboxes in the manufacturer.
Electric cars do not need a manual gearbox or a third pedal (the clutch); in fact, they don't even need a gearbox at all (whether manual or automatic), just resorting to a one-ratio gearbox.
But manual gearboxes at Volkswagen are expected to disappear sooner than that and not just in Europe, but also in China and North America.
Starting in 2023, the new generation Volkswagen Tiguan will be the first model still equipped with internal combustion engines to dispense with the clutch pedal and manual gearbox.
That same year, the successor to the Passat — which will no longer exist as a saloon and will only be available as a van — will follow the example of the Tiguan and will come equipped only with an automatic transmission.
And so on, the next generations of models that may still come equipped with combustion engines (electrified or not) should only be equipped with automatic gearboxes — it has already been confirmed that both the T-Roc and the Golf would have direct successors, so it is to predict that the manual cashier will also no longer be part of them.
What about more affordable models like the Polo and T-Cross?
Manual gearboxes are cheaper to produce than an automatic gearbox (whether it's a torque converter or dual clutch), a factor that takes on added importance when referring to Volkswagen's more affordable models, the Polo and T-Cross — not us we forgot about the up!, but the city will not have a successor.
Its successors, following the normal life cycle, should be known sometime between 2024 and 2026, allowing time for another generation with combustion engines until the brand becomes fully electric. But if Volkswagen has officially confirmed that there will be successors with combustion engines for the Tiguan, Passat, T-Roc and Golf, it has not done so for the Polos and T-Cross.
The years in which we should know the successors of the Polo and T-Cross coincide with the launch of the unprecedented ID.1 and ID.2, their respective 100% electrical equivalents. Will these definitively and soon take the place of the Polos and T-Cross, making the question of whether or not they will have a manual transmission innocuous?