Well, it has a clutch pedal, so my guess is it's a column 3-speed manual.
I like the front styling, the rear treatment is interesting, the gauge panel, and the idea of fully upholstered doors is arguably an upgrade over the US cars.
Lots of interesting detail differences, though I have no idea if that's all original and/or correct.
Some stuff like the washer jar indicates there were local-content laws.
As for the sheetmetal, I'd bet that they amortized the tooling as far as they could: probably not as much competitive pressure for fresh designs.