Was Aveo the last car in US/Canada with manual steering?

[MetroMPG]

I can't think of any new, high volume cars sold in Canada/US that don't have power steering as standard equipment. With the exception of the Smart fortwo. (Doesn't count :P - niche product, definitely not high volume.)

But I test drove this 2004 Aveo sedan last summer - and it had manual steering:



The car is STILL on the dealer's lot. Probably because they're asking too much for it ($5900 - even though it only has 59,000 km / 40k mi. on it).

But the sales guy told me the main reason it's not selling is because it has manual steering. He said the steering effort at low speed scares people off. (I actually looked under the hood to make sure they weren't just trying to sell a car with busted power assist - they weren't..)

Of course, I could have told him if they just pumped up the pressure in the tires (they all looked / felt soft) it would have made a huge difference in reducing steering effort, but I didn't want to tell him how to do his job.

About half the cars I've owned have had power steering, but I'll always prefer manual for the weight savings & avoiding parasitic drag on the engine & general simplicity.