# Automobile transmissions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 22, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-transmissions/699249 "2014-09-22T15:55:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-transmissions/699249/21 "2014-09-24T07:52:05Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > The thing is with \*\*true \*\*manual transmissions, IOW not semi-automatics with shifting paddles etc. but regular old clutch pedal & stick shifts)) the engineering hasn’t really changed that much in decades. So the cost to build them hasn’t either Yeah, the basic gist of how a stick shift works hasn’t changed _that_ much since the Model A, but there’s still a certain amount of work that goes into making one that fits in a particular car. That still costs about the same as it always has, but as the take rate for manuals has plunged, they’re spreading those costs over a smaller number of cars. So the car makers have to charge more for each manual car they sell to make it worth having a manual option at all. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-transmissions/699249/22 "2014-09-24T10:18:20Z")
Increasingly, sub assemblies like gearboxes are not manufactured in-house by car makers but subbed out to specialists like [Getrag](http://www.getrag.com/en/partner/our_customers/our_customers.html). They make boxes for manufacturers world wide, many in countries like the UK where stick shifts are the more common. This rather counters the idea that a manual box will cost more due to rarity. Autos cost more because they are more complex. As someone pointed out above - the price we pay for something is more to do with what the market will bear than the cost of manufacture, marketing and distribution [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automobile-transmissions/699249.md?page=1)