‘No reason to delete it at this point’: Kia Australia to persist with manual transmissions

Kia Australia says it will persist with the manual transmission "if there's still demand for it", despite declining sales and preparing to cut the gearbox type from its Kia Stonic city SUV.

Kia Australia's General Manager of Product and Training, Roland Rivero, told Drive the decision to standardise a 1.0-litre turbo engine across the Stonic range – and delete the entry-level 1.4-litre non-turbo engine – would see the manual transmission axed as an option.

It is likely to see the base price increase, as prior to orders closing last year, the 1.4-litre Stonic manual was priced from $24,990 drive-away – $1000 less than the automatic.

"Stonic manual is about to disappear – from the 2025 model year we upgrade to the 1.0-litre turbo engine with seven-speed DCT [automatic], but Picanto has still got [a manual] and then Sportage still has it," Mr Rivero said.

MORE: Kia Stonic to go turbo only in Australia, price rise likely

Mr Rivero said the inclusion of manual transmissions was "more strategic from a price point perspective", given manuals allow manufacturers to offer entry-level models with appealing pricing.

However, Kia Australia's CEO, Damien Meredith, said keeping a low entry price to attract buyers on a budget is "lessening in importance" as Kia's brand awareness gets stronger – instead pointing to supply and demand as the reason for continuing to provide manual options.

"If there’s still demand for it, and the factory can supply it, and we have ADR [Australian Design Rule] compliance, there’s no reason to delete at this point in time," Mr Meredith said.

In 2023, only 7 per cent of Kia Picantos sold in Australia had a manual transmission, while manuals comprised 2.2 per cent of Stonic sales and just 0.5 per cent of Sportage sales, based on data provided to Drive.

Despite these diminutive numbers, Kia Australia's Chief Operating Officer, Dennis Piccoli, said as long as customers required manual transmissions, Kia would continue to supply them.

"From a sales perspective, if there’s market demand for it, it would be silly to scrap it. Whether it’s the rural demographic [or urban], while the network has people coming in wanting to buy manual [we will continue to supply it]," Mr Piccoli told Drive.

Deliveries of manuals from all brands in Australia are declining sharply according to the above data, with manual transmissions only making up 4.5 per cent of passenger cars and 2.7 per cent of SUVs reported as sold in 2023.