Not enough people bought manuals to justify keeping them and CAFE put the final nail in that coffin.
Yes, nowadays they couldn't build or sell the pickup I'm talking about.
Instead we get a couple-three tons of plastic and aluminum, more gloss and comfort than my living room, for about twice as much as I paid for my first home.
Though I did just buy a 1980 Jeep CJ for running around in, and that DOES have a manual transmission AND makes a guy appreciate at least some of the amenities of newer rides.