Germany, Automatics, and Manual Shift

For most Americans who came to do a tour in Germany.....you'd eventually go and purchase a German vehicle as either the primary or second car.  In this period before the 1990s.....the vast number of cars that you came across....were manual-shift.  For most of us, it's not a big deal.

Somewhere in the 1990s to the past decade....automatics started to come more often....up to around the 17-percent point.  In the past year, the Germans have noted that we've reached the point where 25-percent of the cars registered...are automatics. 

Well, if you've test-driven the new battery cars, you kinda notice that ALL of them come ONLY in automatic. 

So the German Transportation Ministry has had this discussion going on.  They want more Germans trained in the driving classes to handle automatics.  I know....most Americans laugh over this 'certification' business, and that you don't need four hours of test-driving and some educational instructor telling you the way to drive an automatic. 

The jest of this is that they want the driving instructors (all private agencies, and in each village/town) to go out and get electric cars.  You can laugh over this suggestion....with the majority of electrical vehicles between 40k to 60k Euro.  The vast number of instructor all have a manual and automatic type car in their training inventory.  But mandating that they have to own a electric car to be part of the training?  Most instructors would just laugh over the idea.

But this ought to bring you to this pondering moment.  In roughly 12 years....all new cars will be sold as electric cars only (unless the hydrogen thing catches on), and ALL of them will be automatic.  A harsh reality for some Germans who driven manual all their life and approaching 70 years old?  Yeah....it's something to think about.

I brought this up with my wife (who has only driven manual her entire life), and the likely chance that come 2030 that she wants to go and buy a new car.....that she won't be able to buy a manual shift anymore.  For her, it's not an acceptable thing.  I can sense that come around 2028 when the last gas cars are being sold in Germany.....I'll go and try to find one still with the manual shift, and buy it.  Even if I'm around for another 20 years.....I'll have to keep this car in shape because of the wife and her dedication to manual shift options.