There is currently no manual car in Malaysia that is both under RM 100,000 and has traction control.
This here is likely a statement that 99.99% the Malaysian motoring masses are at best indifferent to, but there isn’t actually a decently-equipped car with a manual gearbox available over here that isn’t some high-priced sports car or similar.
And the keyword in the above statement really is ‘decently-equipped’, as many would have no doubt already have in their head the RM 22,000 Axia E as being an affordable manual option. But with a kit list that basically starts and ends at air-conditioning, this bare-bones Perodua instead goes to reinforce the point that any stick-shifts on the market under RM 200,000 are all essentially as well-specced as the Flintstones’ car.
Back when TVs were as fat as they were wide, ordering a car with a manual gearbox did not come at the detriment of driving around in something with hub caps on all four corners. These days however, the cheapest new car with a stick-shift in Malaysia that one could have and could be considered decently specced is the RM 295,000 Toyota GR86.
Now of course, there is a good reason as to why no automaker in Malaysia has decided to offer a mid-range car with a manual that is actually decently-equipped. Such is as said car company who is brave enough to offer such a thing will likely only have a target market that number in the tens, which in turn means it makes really no financial sense for it to even be considered.
Though dear car companies, tens of cars sold is still tens of cars sold. Also to some of you at least, the fitment of a manual transmission into a better-specced car is literally a case of mixing and matching existing variants that you currently offer.
Take the current Proton Saga for instance, its base-spec is incidentally is still to be offered with a 5-speed manual transmission. It should therefore not stuff that gearbox into the shell of a better-equipped variant, and sell it to the few pakciks (or makciks) who want a stick-shift sedan that has more than 2 speakers.
What more is that there could be an argument too that for cars that are already fully-imported, bringing in a few decently-specced manual-equipped units could be good publicity for the automaker over here, while also actually seeing these examples leave the showroom floor because people would actually want to buy them. So Bermaz, Japan already offers the Mazda3 in an identical spec to ours but with a six-speed stick shift instead of the auto available here, what say you just treat your zoom-zoom fans here with a couple of units?
Lastly in a neat example of it being both easy to implement and good promotional tool, the current-gen Toyota Vios did also in fact come with a stick shift in select markets like Indonesia. And with the Japanese automaker being so into their motorsports that it even runs its own spec Vios racing series over here, why is it then that they don’t sell the same manual-equipped sedan as raced on the track as some sort of special edition, to offer those with more modest means a chance of some grassroots motorsports action?
