Lexus could save the stick shift for EVs, if drivers are willing to pretend

The manual transmission, once a staple of base trim economy cars and high-end sports cars alike, has been in decline for years now. But for a small and shrinking group of drivers, the answer to that is “from my cold, dead hands.”

So manual gearbox purists will be delighted to know that a highly unusual suspect, Lexus, is apparently working on a “virtual” manual to find out if the stick shift can survive the electric revolution. But is it too little, too late for the stick?

British car enthusiast publication Evo reported this week that Lexus, which now leads Toyota’s high-performance EV efforts, is developing a kind of shifting system that mimics the feel of a clutch and a stick shift in an...

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