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Fans of engaging Hondas received a setback last month when the company announced a production pause for the manual Civic Si and Acura Integra A-Spec models. That announcement was accompanied by a statement that the brand has a “plan for both trims to return”, but it is still never reassuring to see an affordable performance model with a manual gearbox put on hold.

Even so, Honda says it is not walking 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 comparable experience for buyers who are less enthusiastic through paddle shifting, seemingly referring to the transmission-mimicking 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 versions in both model lines. Since the Prelude is based on the Civic Hybrid’s distinctive transmission-free powertrain, and the company is not known to be developing any other sports cars, it appears unlikely that more six-speed models will join the Honda range in the near future.