There aren’t many new cars that offer manual transmissions on the market anymore. Fortunately, BMW through its M division is still willing to offer a manual transmission model.
In an interview, BMW M boss Frank van Meel was asked about the future of manual transmissions after the manufacturer switched to electric powertrains.
The response was overwhelming, with van Meel saying it will continue to offer models (M2, M3 and M4) with manual transmission until the end of the decade.
“Unfortunately, the manual transmission offering is not as wide as it used to be. This is more for the high-performance segment like the M2, M3 and even the M4. And for those cars, we will continue to offer manual gearboxes. and we will maintain that offer until the end of the decade.
He said the decision to keep the manual transmission offering was actually helped a lot by online petitions and fan-run campaigns.
According to Timo Resch, vice president of sales, brand and customer at BMW M, getting the green light from BMW’s executive ranks is not an easy matter.
The engineers even asked why the transmission was still chosen when the automatic one was much faster, but the marketing department simply replied: “There is still a lot of demand”.
