Mazda 3 manual axed in exodus of small cars from three pedals

There will soon be just one model in the 'small car' class – excluding performance versions – with the option of a manual transmission, after the Mazda 3 loses its three-pedal gearbox later this year.

Mazda offered a six-speed manual as the standard transmission for six of the eight Mazda 3 variants – even though three-pedal versions accounted for just five per cent of sales last year.

The company is now set to pull the plug on the manual transmission as part of a technology upgrade due later this year – which will also include a rationalisation of the model range later this year, which is also set to kill off the two mild-hybrid variants.

It will leave the base version of the Hyundai i30 hatchback as the final non-performance model left in the 'small car under $40,000' category – as defined by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, the peak body for the new-car industry – with a manual transmission.

Manuals are still available with the Hyundai i30 N, Renault Megane RS, Honda Civic Type R, Toyota GR Corolla and Subaru WRX, however these are all performance cars with price tags between $45,000 and $70,000.

When the current-generation Mazda 3 went on sale in Australia four years ago, the company forecast the manual would account for 10 per cent of sales in the first year.

It more or less matched this prediction, accounting for "less than 10 per cent" of sales in 2019.

By the end of 2022, the manual had dropped to just five per cent of sales.

The death of the Mazda 3 manual joins the Mini Clubman and Renault Megane RS this year – both of which will disappear entirely, not just the axing of manual versions – and follows the Volkswagen Golf and Skoda Scala last year.

The Toyota Corolla and Kia Cerato dropped manual transmissions in 2021, while the Ford Focus ditched manuals in standard versions in 2019, and in the ST hot hatch last year, when the model line was axed entirely.

Although the Mazda 3 manual will be axed, it remains in the Mazda 2 city hatch, CX-3 city SUV, CX-30 small SUV, BT-50 ute and MX-5 sports car.

Mazda Australia boss Vinesh Bhindi told Drive in February, before the Mazda 3 manual was axed: "We’ve taken a position that if the factory offers it, we will offer it ... But you’re right, it’s not what consumers say in big numbers ‘that’s what we want’ for Mazda 3. They still do for an MX-5, though."

Manual transmissions accounted for 4.7 per cent of all new motor vehicles sold last year – or 3.9 per cent per cent of traditional passenger cars (hatchbacks, sedans, wagons, coupes and convertibles).