USAVolkswagen has quietly removed the six-speed manual gearbox from the 2027 Jetta GLI. With that change, the company no longer offers any car with a third pedal in the United States.
The Jetta GLI has been one of the few remaining affordable performance sedans with a manual option in the American market. Volkswagen had already removed manual transmission availability from the Golf GTI and Golf R in the US over the past several years. The Jetta GLI held on longer than either.
Market context - roughly 25 models sold in the US today are still available with a manual gearbox. The Honda Civic Si and Mazda MX-5 Miata are among the most prominent. But the broader trend has been consistently downward; the manual’s share of the US new car market is now well below 2%. Manufacturers cite development costs, supply chain complexity, and low take rates as the reasons for ending manual options one model at a time.
Supplier perspective - Frank van Meel, head of BMW M, stated in a recent interview that manual gearboxes “no longer make sense” from an engineering standpoint, adding that transmission suppliers have largely stopped investing in new manual gearbox development. When the underlying supply chain contracts, the economics of keeping a manual option become harder to justify even for brands that want to.
The Jetta GLI continues for 2027 with a seven-speed DSG automatic as the sole transmission. The car itself is not discontinued.
The Volkswagen Jetta is a compact front-drive sedan built in Puebla, Mexico for North America, on the same MQB platform as the Golf. The seventh generation arrived in 2018 and was facelifted for 2025. A 158 hp 1.5 TSI with an eight-speed automatic covers the S, Sport, SE and SEL trims from $23,995, while the GLI Autobahn uses the Golf GTI's 228 hp 2.0 TSI from $33,745. The GLI was Volkswagen's last manual-gearbox car in the United States, a choice that ends with the 2027 model year.
The Volkswagen Golf Mk8.5 is a compact hatchback offered as a mild-hybrid eTSI, a plug-in hybrid GTE, and the performance GTI and R models. Prices for the mainstream eTSI range start from around €33,000.
