The new BMW M2 debuted earlier this month with a polarizing design but a powertrain setup that has every BMW fan excited. It is one of the few high-performance vehicles on the market still available with a manual gearbox. We are now pleased to report that the three-pedal configuration will remain the choice in the company’s performance lineup until the end of the decade. Hurray!
Our partners in CarBuzz were at the BMW M Festival at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in South Africa where they chatted with BMW M boss Frank van Meel. Among the many topics covered, the publication asked director M if there is a future for manual transmissions within the automaker’s performance division after switching to electric powertrains. The answer is quite satisfactory.
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“The manual, unfortunately, isn’t that extensive anymore. This is more in the M2 and M3, and M4 segments. And for those cars, we continue to offer manuals, and those cars will run for a long time to the end. this decade,” said van Meel CarBuzz.
Apparently, online petitions and fan campaigns asking various automakers to keep manuals are helping. Timo Resch, BMW M’s vice president of customer, brand and sales, added that the company had “customers put up online petitions and voted and pretty much asked us to keep manuals.” Looks like the online format worked. .
However, asking BMW executives to give the three-pedal gearbox the green light is not easy. Reschs said the engineers asked why anyone would need a manual transmission when the automatic was faster, but then the marketing department simply said: “The fans asked for it.”
And they got it with the new M2, which will remain the last of its kind as it doesn’t have any electrification features. A six-speed manual is standard in the United States, while customers in Germany have to pay extra to get one. Clients can also paddle their own gear on the M3 and M4 duo and it looks like this option will remain available until at least 2030.
