In 2024, two out of every three cars sold in Ireland had automatic transmissions, writes Brian Byrne. Ten years ago, less than 14pc were autos. And as recently as 2019, the proportion was one in three. It’s a big change since when I started to drive, when the only automatic I ever drove was a local gentry Bentley in which I sometimes had to bring the owner and his car home from our family pub, for his safety and that of everyone else on the road.
Amongst the young drivers of that time, automatics were sneered at as something a real driver wouldn’t have any truck with. Also in an environment of expensive fuel, they were significantly more thirsty than the manual gearboxes that were the absolute norm in this part of the world. All that has changed.
There are real reasons for the big shift evident today, so to speak. The adoption of the Borg Warner-built dual-clutch automatic manual by Volkswagen two decades ago not only changed the clunky earlier automated manual options to much faster moves between the gears, but also did them faster than any stick shift. In addition, the DCT systems are even more fuel frugal than manual transmissions.
The electrification of powertrains has also been responsible for the shift to automatics. Initially the province of Toyota, almost all makers providing combustion engined cars now offer hybrid petrol-electric versions. By their nature, hybrids use automatic transmissions to manage the shifts and mixes between electric and engine modes. Equally, battery electric cars normally don’t have gearshifts because of the instant torque characteristics of an electric motor.
In 2024, 45pc of cars sold in Ireland were electrified or pure electric, so these were classed as autos. In addition, some compact car models such as the Peugeot 308 are only sold here in automatic form. The balance of the increased auto interest is likely due to the realisation that having a car that doesn’t require stirring a manual box, especially in the urban driving that is the most common conditions, is less stressful. And because there’s no fuel consumption penalty, it makes it a very viable option to order even if there's still a bit extra to be paid.
