The future of BMW is automatic. We’re talking gearboxes, folks. If it’s up to BMW M, the dual-clutch box is dead and the last BMW M with a manual gearbox is getting closer. What will replace it? Torque converters until the electric Bimmers probably take over with one gear.
The latest M2 is probably the last manual M car. Expect an M2 Competition in a few years, a facelift in a year or four, at some point an M2 CS and then a gradual phase-out until the internal-combustion M2 finally smokes its last set of tires around the year 2030.
The last manual gearbox from BMW M
The head of development at BMW M, Dirk Hacker, confirms the end of the dual clutch and the phasing out of the manual gearbox. From now on, from BMW M’s point of view, the dual clutch is gone. Now it is manual or automatic and will be automatically electrified in the future.” We saw it coming that the manual gearbox would disappear, but why the double clutch?
That’s quite a complicated story. ‘There was a big discussion around the M5, not only about the automatic transmission, but also about other things. The choice [om voor een automaat te gaan] it wasn’t just cost, but comfort, because we got a lot of feedback about maneuvering, parking, not rolling away when you let go of the pedal, and so on,” says Hacker. Long story short: the machine beats the DCT, because you can parade it more easily.
Hacker says that ‘the automatic outperforms the dual clutch. In the M4 CSL it shifts faster and on the other hand, we also use this automatic transmission in the new M4 GTR race car.’ Still, anyone who has driven the new M4 CSL will admit that the sluggish downshifts and slightly rising upshifts don’t feel as smooth, direct and satisfying as the dual clutch from the F80 M3, for example.
And an electric M car with a manual gearbox?
Hacker believes in an EV with a manual transmission: ‘I think it’s possible, but we’re not going to do that. It is not only a decision of BMW, but also of the suppliers. If you look around you, the future of manual transmission suppliers is shrinking. So I’m not sure if there’s a possibility in the future – the future means the next six, seven years.’
So this is it friends. If you opt for the new M2 (or you have an M3 with manual gearbox brought here from another part of the world) you can still get a manual gearbox. Your next new BMW M car will be an automatic. The next car probably won’t even have a shifter anymore.
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