I think the reason these dealers brought in the SST version is so that they hope the car will appeal to a larger category of buyers. Look at it this way, not everyone can operate a manual transmission properly and we're talking about performance MT cars with heavy clutch feel. Not practical if you are using very often in places like KL where traffic jams occur frequently. With semi-auto gearbox, it is almost like anyone can drive an Evo easily. Just shift to D and there you go. No clutch balancing or worries that you might stall the car halfway.
So, I think that the statement about Evo X manual will be selling like hot cakes might not be that accurate. Evo purist will definitely go for the cheaper and faster Evo IX. 4G63T in IX has a long history of reliable engine tuning options compared to the newer aluminum block 4B11T engine. Besides, IX comes with 6 speed manual compared to 5 speed manual in X. Currently, even WRX STI Version 10 suffers the same fate because many dealers are bringing in automatic versions of it.