Manual gearbox remains in-gear at BMW M, for now

Having confirmed October as the reveal month for the new BMW M2, the head of Munich’s now five decade old M division has vowed to keep the manual gearbox in production for long as possible, in order to satisfy the needs of purists.

In a move contrasting that of arch-rival Mercedes-Benz’s announcement last month that it will phase manual transmissions out completely by next year, Frank van Meel stated that while “little reason” remains to keep the three-pedal layout from a technical perspective, the uptake in demand proves buyers still want to row gears themselves.

“It’s heavier, it’s slower and you get worse fuel consumption than the alternative. But the customer and the fanbase really love the manual,” van Meel told Britain’s Autocar.

“It gives a connection to allow them to demonstrate they can tame the beast – and that’s the point. We want to keep it”.

In making the announcement, van Meel confirmed that current orders for the M2 are at an even split in the transmission department, with 50% of buyers selecting the eight-speed Steptronic and the other 50% the six-speed manual.

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“For the M2, every second car is bought with a manual. People want to say they can handle the beast. If they have a way of showing they can do that, then they want it – and a manual gearbox is part of that,” van Meel said.

He also added that the biggest uptake for the manual comes from North America, a market which previously had sole access to the E65 M5 with three-pedals, and more recently, manual and DSG versions of the Volkswagen Golf 8 GTI and R.

“It’s part of the emotional appeal of our cars, and that’s why we love manual gearboxes. If customers continue to say they want it, then amazing,” van Meel concluded.

Aside from the M2, select markets are also privy to manual versions of the M3 and M4, which come as standard with rear-wheel-drive as the xDrive all-wheel-drive system had been developed from the start to work in unison with the eight-speed Steptronic.

At present, no BMW M model offers a manual transmission in South Africa, however, expect this to possibly change once sales of the M2 commences next year.