The List of new cars offered with manual transmission shorter each year. Sure, the dual-clutch automatic shifts faster, but there are rollers that stretch your face during acceleration and hit triple-digit speeds. However, few would argue that they provide the same feeling and satisfaction as mastering a machine such as a car yourself. The head of BMW’s USA Frank van Meel, the performance department, seems to agree.
Talk to CarBuzz, van Meel assures fans that even though it’s a dying breed, the cane will survive. At least until 2030. “Unfortunately, this manual is no longer popular. It lies more in the segments of M2 and M3and M4. And for those cars, we continue to provide manuals, and those cars will run for a long time until the end of the decade,” he said.
However, even within the company, they have to fight for it. The M division’s vice president of customer, brand and sales, Timo Resch, revealed that By BMW engineers were confused as to why they should make one, citing that the automatons were faster. Resch replied, “We say that’s what our customers ask for. And we really actively listen to our customers, to our fan base. Fans have been asking for it. That’s it. They got that.”
It looks like the fanboys’ online cries for help have finally been heard. “We have customers putting out online petitions and voting and pretty much asking us to keep the manual,” says Resch.
After 2030, things look a bit bleak for standard transmissions. The Recently launched BMW M2 will be the last M car not to be electrified, like CarBuzz report, van Meel doesn’t believe in crossbred for smaller cars. That means the next M2 will be all-electric. And unless BMW plans some sort EV manuals like Toyota are said to be workingit will not have a manual transmission.
Of course, a lot could change in the next eight years. The calculation for keeping the manual can completely change if supporters in the organization suddenly change positions or change companies. For now, however, van Meel and Resch still believe that a brand that sees itself as a state-of-the-art driving machine needs a stick.
