The Mazda 6 is a good car, even if many buyers ignore the existence of sedansthese days, and it’s long come with the option for a manual transmission—even if the stick is currently relegated to the car’s lowest trim.But citing dealer order guides,CarsDirect reports that the manual will be no more in 2019.

We have not seen the order guides, but we have reached out to Mazda for confirmation on the fate of the manual and the below reported prices.We’ll update this story if we hear back.

That earlier reference to “2019” might have been a little confusing, since we’re already three months into the year and carmakers love to debut their vehicle models two years in advance. But the 2019 Mazda 6 isn’t out yet—refreshing, given the tendency for unnaturally early debuts. What isn’t refreshing is what it may lack.


CarsDirect reports that Mazda will keep the option for either the standard 187-horsepowerengine or a turbocharged 227-HPone for the 2019 model, but that there won’t be a choice when it comes to number of pedals: Every Mazda 6 trim will get a six-speed automatic,the story said, citing order guides.

That’ll give the cheapest 2019 model a $24,720 base MSRP, CarsDirect reports, compared to the manual 2018 car’s $21,950 starting price. (Remember, the current base price of the 2018 automatic is $23,000 before $895 in destination fees.) The report also said the top Signature trim for 2019 will “reach $36,020.”

From the story:

It’s a sad outcome, if it happens, since the manual Mazda 6 is a great value for a new car—even when compared to its significantly more expensive turbocharged superiorsdown the lineup. But it’s also understandable monetarily, given that both sedans and manuals are a hard sell anymore.

That’s just how things are, no matter how hard they might be to accept. Less than 3 percent of new cars sold in the U.S. in 2016had manual transmissions, the LA Times reported that year, compared to 7 percent in 2012and 25 percent in 1992. Sedans are also suffering in the crossover craze.

Putting those two together, while a bonus for car enthusiasts who don’t want a new car to shift for them, is a likely recipe for an extended stay on the lot. When a friend at a local Texas dealer offered to transfer a manual 2018 Mazda 6 into their inventory from a more highly populated area so we could compare it to the top turbo trim last year for a review, even, we told them there was no pressure to do it because we figured the model would be hard to move.

So, welcome to 2019, where new Mazda 6 buyers may just have no choice but to pay more for fewer pedals. At least there’s always the used market, or the new Mazda 3.

Update: March 28, 2019 at 9:33 a.m. ET: A Mazda spokesperson confirmed to Jalopnik overnight that the 2019 car will lose the manual, but said the company continues to listen to customers. “If their desires should change in the future,” the spokesperson said, Mazda will “respond accordingly.”

“At Mazda we are always listening to our fans, especially when it comes to what they are looking for from our vehicles,” the spokesperson told Jalopnik via email. “As we have moved the Mazda6 upscale with the launch of the Grand Touring Reserve and Signature models, we have seen less demand for a manual transmission option.

“We continue to support enthusiasts who enjoy driving with a manual transmission in the all-new 2019 Mazda3 Premium Hatchback model, and of course the ever iconic MX-5 Miata.”

The full story is here.

Honda would never have bothered with a 6MT in the first place if it was not worth doing

Rumor: Lexus And Toyota Will Use Mazda Rear-Drive Platform, Inline Six

The future generation of several Toyota and Lexus cars will allegedly source their rear-drive platform and inline-six engine from Mazda, according to a rumor citing unnamed insiders from Best Car in Japan. The first of these models could arrive as soon as 2022.

Mazda's recent upmarket ambitions had us worried. The mid-luxury market stopped being friendly about 40 years ago. (How's Oldsmobile doing these days?) But just when we thought Mazda had truly lost the plot, the company looks ready to redeem itself. Most automakers competing in the middle ground dress up mainstream mechanical bits in browner leather and offer sheetmetal shaped by a more pretentious designer.

Bucking that trend, Mazda plans to adopt the blueprint of a full luxury model and hang a lower price on it. The next-generation 6, which should be on sale by the end of 2022, is set to get a full Bavarian, transitioning to a longitudinal-engine platform with rear-wheel drive and an inline-six.

That engine won't just be a new layout for Mazda. It will incorporate the company's Skyactiv-X sort-of-compression-ignition gasoline technology as well as a 48-volt hybrid system. We've seen numbers approaching 350 horsepower thrown around. If that sounds like an unrealistic R&D load for a company Mazda's size, well, yeah, it is. However, Mazda has lately been deepening its ties with Toyota, which may adopt the six-cylinder Skyactiv-X for the next-generation Lexus IS and RC. With Toyota's budget, Mazda engineers could probably welcome Elon Musk to Mars with a locally sourced shrimp buffet.


You already have a pretty good idea of what this car will look like. Reflect on Mazda's Vision Coupe concept, which debuted at the 2017 Tokyo auto show. That long-hood, short-deck showpiece was clearly projecting rear-drive intent, cloaked in an evolution of Mazda's seductive styling language with softened lines and subtler forms.

There's even a chance that Mazda will mimic Lexus and put the inline-six into both four- and two-door bodies. Rewind two years prior to the Vision Coupe and you get the RX-Vision, a Mazda sports-car concept with a hood way longer than necessary for the Wankel rotary the company was imagining at the time. Few things cement an upmarket image better than a rear-drive sports coupe. But a rear-drive sports sedan is a fine start, too.