Audi South Africa puts manual gearbox in Park
Audi has become the latest automaker to bid farewell to the manual gearbox in South Africa with the automaker confirming that a three-pedal layout won’t feature on any of its models in the foreseeable future.
This, according to the Ingolstadt marque’s Head of local operations, Trevor Hill, who told The Citizen at the recent Kyalami Festival of Motoring that the advances in automatic transmission technology has effectively nullified the need for a manual ‘box.
“We have changed completely to automatic now. We don’t have any manual (models) left in our (product range) and we won’t have any in future either,” Hill said.
“Automatic ‘boxes have become so sophisticated that you don’t need a manual anymore. That is the way we have decided to move our product portfolio to complete automatic ‘boxes and focus on performance of the seven or eight-speed auto. Most of the cars come with paddle (shifters) anyway, so you can drive in a manual format if you really want”.
Despite including a six-speed manual on the all-new A1 and the refreshed A4 in Europe, it is essentially confirmed that neither of these will be offered in South Africa at all.
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