Genesis gave the G70 a manual gearbox even though he hardly knew anyone would buy it

When it comes to new vehicles with manual transmissions, at least in this dark segment of the global automotive market that we call the United States, things are not great – even the pillars of the brand give up their third pedal, and sterile sales justify it. But Genesis knew that her G70 manual sedan would barely be sold and brought her here anyway.

CarBuzz wrote Thursday that in the spirit of the trend to ask car manufacturers (often low) Percentage of manual sales recently, he also asked Genesis how many of his G70 luxury sport sedans were purchased with numbers on the shifter rather than letters. Genesis told CarBuzz that manual sales are low, essentially:

The manual transmission actually has its own trim level, which also includes a limited slip differential, summer tires and Brembo brakes. With the manual, it takes 6.6 seconds at G70 to reach 100 km / h, which is fast but not fast.

Talk to CarBuzzKevin Smith, Genesis Group Leader, said, "If you look only at the portion of manual sales among our G70 2.0T variants, the manual is not available on our 3.3T variants, the percentage of manual sales for Year 2019 is 4%. . "

The 2019 G9 offers two engine options, rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive: a turbocharged four-cylinder 2.0-liter. this gives a power rating of 252 horsepower, with a turbocharged V6 of 365 HP, but only offers a manual on the four-cylinder rear-wheel drive. That's why, said the Genesis representative, sales figures of 4% only relate to the four-cylinder option.

The Genesis representative confirmed to Jalopnik that 4% corresponded to the US sales percentage for textbooks. He also shared Genesis' current sales figures, noting that his "new full Genesis retail network" was not yet fully operational. (Determining the dealer network since Genesis left Hyundai to become its own business is a complete test for some time.)

According to the charts, sales of the G70 until April rise to 3,076, with no breakdown of sales by engine or transmission choice. But even 4% of that total is 123, which means that 4% of four-cylinder sales in the first four months of the year could easily reach almost double digits.

This would be a cause for alarm, with any other car, a threat to the existence of its manual transmission, at least on the American market. But the G70 kept its manual option in the 2019 and 2020 model years, and when asked, the Genesis representative informed Jalopnik by e-mail that manual sales were exactly what the company expected. . Nor is there a lot of people seated, said the representative, because the manual production rate of the G70 is in line with the sales rate.

"We knew that the rate of use of the manuals, even with the other performance improvements included in the 2.0T Sport (manual) package, would not be so great, but we wanted to be able to offer it to show to how much we value market enthusiasts who prefer textbooks, "said the representative. "In fact, we indicated throughout the launch that we were expecting a manual tap rate of less than 5%."

Genesis did not know that any of us would opt for its G70 manual, but it still brought a copy to the US market – which is understandable for many automakers. This is not the worst way to make new fans.