Have Cup-Holders Killed the Stick Shift in America

A manual transmission or "stick-shift" typically has a number of advantages over an automatic. These include better fuel economy, lower overall cost and greater longevity. In 1980, J.D. Power and Associates estimates that more than 35% (or about 1 in 3) of all cars sold had a stick shift. By 2005, that number had dropped to 6%. It is now estimated that only about 1 in 10 American drivers can operate a stick-shift at all.

So why the drop? Some experts blame, of all things, cup holders. It was at about the same time cup holders were introduced in American cars that stick-shifts began to disappear. It can also be noted that European and Asian cars often lack the type or quantity of cup holders that are common in American vehicles and outside the US stick-shifts still amount to well more than half of all cars sold.

So did cup-holders really kill the stick-shift in America? What do you think?