Jaguar to Offer XE Sedan with Stick Shift in North America

As North American drivers of cars in all segments continue to steer away from having to shift gears themselves, Jaguar says it will offer its forthcoming XE compact sedan here with a manual transmission.

The news comes to us via Car and Driver, who heard it from the source – Jaguar North America boss Joe Eberhardt – that the brand is happy with the 10-to-20 percent stick shift take-rate in the F-Type sports car, and says that’s good enough to justify doing a manual XE, too. We can expect to the see the manual in the base XE 25t, matched to a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder.

Being that just about every upscale compact has one of those these days, let’s look at which of the XE’s competitors can still be had with a stick shift.

Even BMW having moved away from making a manual part of the basic 3 Series package; instead, it’s a no-cost option over the automatic that has been standard kit for a few years. If BMW believes the manual is on its way out, what kind of future can there be for three-pedal cars? For what it’s worth, the 3 Series offers a stick in the 320i, 328i, and 335i, but only the six-cylinder 335i can combine stick shift and all-wheel drive.

Cadillac takes a similar tack: the ATS with its 2.0L turbo motor comes standard with an automatic, but a manual is a no-cost option.

Audi seems more optimistic. Every quattro-equipped Audi A4 comes with a six-speed (the basic front-drive model uses a continuously variable automatic), with an automatic as a more-money option.

Believers are few, however: other XE competitors, like the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Volvo S60, Acura TLX, Lexus IS and Infiniti Q50, are sold with naught but automatics here.