I think we have to establish a crucial difference here: Manuals for performance cars and manuals in mainstream cars. In the second case they still rule supreme. I think this has to be the continent where more normal cars with manual gearboxes are sold all over the world.
However as is often the case, grass is greener on the other side, and automatics are seen here as magical and cool. So when someone progresses to a good job and earns good money it is possible that he/she will think of an auto as something that enhances the car.
That doesn't mean that if we want a car a can't afford the automatic gearbox (or prefer other extras) we will not buy, we will; after all everyone knows how to drive a manual car here.
And then there are also those people who find automatics contrived, difficult and basically witchcraft, like my mother; who simply refuses to drive a car that has an automatic gearbox. This behaviour is more extended than you might think.
However, for performance cars the story is very different. It is a lost battle. Thanks to F1 and paddles and Play Stations the automatic gearbox is a better option than manual because it is faster and more efficient and look I'm like Fernando Alonso! Therefore no one wants a manual and they look at you like you might be an imbecile if you want one (that happened to me not that long ago in a BMW dealer).