Ford kills the manual transmission in the Mustang Ecoboost

Ford is killing the manual transmission option for the new 7th generation S650 Mustang Ecoboost. Yes – you will still be able to get the manual on the V8 models. But the Ecoboost paired with a manual trans is one for the history books… as apparently only about 10% of current Ecoboost buyers opt for the manual trans.

This is a loss. Because if we’re being honest here, the S550 Mustang Ecoboost with the 6-speed manual really is/was a fun car to drive. But the problem with the Mustang Ecoboost… is that it will always live in the GT’s shadows. It’ll always be compared to a GT. And it will always be less than a GT in that regard. So while it feels wrong, emotionally, to see the 6-speed option leave the Mustang Ecoboost. If we’re looking at numbers, the vast majority of manual transmission Mustang buyers (aka enthusiasts) are going for the GT and/or Dark Horse anyway. So I guess it makes sense.

But if we step back… that’s exactly the problem with the automotive industry in the 21st century: It’s all about making sense rather than making statements. The automotive industry is slowly but surely killing-off all the things that made it special. Like options.