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Those companies are making short-sighted, greed-driven decisions to kill off manuals, and then hypocritically bemoan the inevitable outcome.
A few examples off the top of my head: BMW G80 Competition is just a few grand more than the base manual version. For that you're getting a vastly more powerful engine and a fast-shifting slushbox. In other words: a bargain.
Also: why not install crisper, more direct manual gearboxes in all BMW M cars ? The current M gearboxes are quite rubbery and lifeless, as if they belonged in a luxury car, not sporty one. Overall, not too bad, but the competition trounces them, and I find it hard to believe that BMW has no technical know-how to match the competition. They simply don't care to attract more manual gearbox enthusiasts.
Porsche 911 S: you don't get any discount when you opt for the manual transmission versus Porsche's best-in-business DCT. They both cost the same, which makes even a hardcore manual fan second-guess his/her decision. It feels like wasting one's money. Why not change this policy and simply pay more for the extra-complexity and utility of the DCT ?
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