It's common knowledge that the manual transmission will eventually die off; engineers have managed to make modern automatics both more efficient and more reliable than their three-pedal counterparts. Fewer vehicles are offered with a manual every year, and manufacturers almost universally say that decision is driven by customer choice; people don't buy three-pedal cars, so carmakers don't make them. Even in Europe, where manual transmissions are both more common and more loved, the numbers are shrinking.

Where is the documentation to support your claim? When was the last time you were in Europe, and how many automatics versus how many manuals did you see? Did you keep track, or is this purely propaganda? Is someone from the Big Three looking to push the excess automatics before the next year's model, or what?

In Europe, EVERY mainstream vehicle which sells in the United States, comes with a manual transmission STANDARD.

Take a mazda CX-7 SUV for example. That vehicle only sells as an automatic in the U.S.; in Europe, the manual transmission is STANDARD, even though it is an SUV!

Take minivans, small cars, large cars: except for traditionally automatic brands like the Bentley, they all come with a manual. Even the minivans! BMW and Mercedes, which in the U.S. sell most models like the E-class as automatic only, offer those models with manual transmissions in Europe as STANDARD.

Europeans WILL NOT drive an automatic; they consider it an insult to their intelligence and driving ability. Automatic transmissions will never gain a foothold there. Along with a big hamburger and diet coke, they are considered "something only Americans would use" (actual quote).