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Fans of engaging Hondas got disappointing news last month when the company confirmed a production pause for the manual Civic Si and Acura Integra A-Spec models. At the same time, the brand said it has a “plan for both trims to return,” but it is still hardly reassuring to see an affordable performance model with a manual gearbox being put on hold.

Thankfully, Honda says it is not ready to walk away from the manual transmission any time soon. During a roundtable held ahead of last Sunday’s IndyCar Freedom 250 in Washington D.C., American Honda sales executive Lance Woelfer said manual gearboxes are “something that consumers still get excited about, but it’s probably the enthusiasts like us that feel it’s most important to them.”

“There is a market there,” he added. “I think there’s opportunity there. It continues to be a smaller and smaller portion of the market that gets excited about it, but the people who experience it and learn to drive it, they want that. It’s a small portion of the market—and I think it will probably continue to shrink honestly—but because of the fun to drive, we can continue to have a model like the Si, Integra, or Civic Type R that offer that. We don’t see growing demand, just kind of, excitement from those of us who enjoy driving a stick shift.”

Woelfer also said Honda can “kind of deliver” a similar experience for buyers who are less enthusiastic, with paddle shifting, likely referring to the transmission-simulating system in the current Prelude. “But it’s just not the same as a Type R, hitting the clutch and getting that rev matched. I love it... We see a little less demand, but we’ll continue to have the offerings that we’ve announced.”

At present, those announced products are limited to the Civic Type R and Integra Type S, along with the promised return of the lower-spec manual models in both ranges. Since the Prelude is based on the Civic Hybrid’s distinctive transmission-free powertrain, and Honda is not known to be working on any other sports cars, it appears unlikely that any additional six-speed models will join the Honda line-up in the near future.