[Franco3000]

     Featured on BIMMERPOST.com

”The bad news is that if we one day have autonomous cars, then the manual cannot work anymore,” BMW M chief Frank van Meel told us at a recent press event in Spain, “so that would be, let’s say, the natural end. But that’s still some time away.”

“The BMW M2 Competition still has the manual for a reason, because in the U.S. we have more than a 50 percent take rate on manual transmissions for the M2,” he said. “Buyers vote with their wallets for manual transmissions. Now, being an engineer, I would say from a rational standpoint that even though the manual gearbox is lighter than an automated gearbox, it uses more fuel and is slower, so it doesn’t really make sense . . . But from the emotional standpoint, a lot of customers say, ‘I don’t care, I want to have one.’ As long as we have these take rates on M2, and also the M3 and M4, we’re going to offer manuals, because we listen to our customers. Even though as an engineer I’d say we don’t necessarily need one. If demand is so high, then why not fulfill it?”

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/bm...issionsfor-now

[tropicalypso]

[MPoweRo]

Originally Posted by tropicalypso

[IMG]https://www.mememaker.net/api/bucket...weet-jesus.jpg[/IMG]

Here here!

[SherM4n]

Good. So am I.

[Donger Kim]

Ahh well, i guess it’s time to trade up on the next M car!

[NickyC]

BRAVO

[10"]

Eh...Van Meel is an Audi guy through and through. Audi totally ditched the manual when he was there——he's gonna do the same thing at BMW. He said the same crap when he was at Audi. Prior to him being head of quattro GmbH the TT-RS was manual and dsg. By the time he got done with Audi NOTHING was manual anymore...

[No Boost]

Nobody needs a manual just like nobody needs a bj from the cute girl next door.

[secretanchitman]

G82 6MT it is!

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

WOW and i thought my f80 6mt was going to be worth more than I paid for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[brad850csi]

Originally Posted by Stage IV

Nobody needs a manual just like nobody needs a bj from the cute girl next door.

Yeah but most people want both. Ironically at the same time would b more difficult than an auto

[Sassicaia]

looks like ill be selling my F80 and getting another M3 after all.

Great news.

[uniqueMR]

[maniz]

Slowpokes rejoice!

[Speedwell-Industries]

Originally Posted by maniz

Slowpokes rejoice!

Woot woot!!

[4MULA_1]

You really can't compare the take rate of a manual vs DCT when the DCT costs $3k more!

To truly gauge the take rate they'd both need to be the same price. I'm willing to bet that if they're both the same price, that the take rate of the manuals would drop by more than 60%

[Brasko]

That's great news! Hopefully that will help drive innovation and push the capabilities of the manual gearbox even further.

[c63er]

Overall very good news.

BMW is more conscious of American tastes it seems. Possibly part of a larger trend?

Once they realize that we do not follow the Chinese taste for numb steering, Toyota-like cars with a BMW badge, and a ridiculous number of fake vents and badges then we might get our old beloved BMW brand back again.

We must applaud BMW on this step in the right direction. Or should we applaud ourselves for buying these cars? It takes two to tango.

I have a feeling if BMW simply started making the E46 M3 again without any change from the original and simply called it the 2020 M3 they would sell amazingly well here.

He does make one mistake. Autonomous cars are not the end of the manual. Innovation (and German over engineering) can make a transmission switchable between manual and automatic control of manual.

[dawei213]

I just leased an F80 this Friday due to not knowing if the F80 will be the last to have a manual and probably buying it out at lease end if it indeed is the last. Now I know it's not, I can look forward to the G80 platform.

[Rxpert]

Fantastic news that the next M2/3/4 will more than likely have a manual!!!!!!

This is a huge win for 6-MT enthusiasts and I'm glad BMW is keeping it for the time being!

However I don't think we can celebrate too much. Ultimately BMW decides what "take rates" are sustainable for keeping the manual.

50:50 for the M2 is great, however I read somewhere on these forums, and can't remember the exact number, but thought the take rate of manual for the M3/4 was something brutal like 7% (Someone please correct me if you have the actual number). At rates like that I can't see BMW keeping the manual longer than the next G series M3/4......

[r0wr]

Hopefully people with manual cars can stop saying they're "rare".

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by c63er

He does make one mistake. Autonomous cars are not the end of the manual. Innovation can make a transmission switchable between manual and automatic control of manual.

True, but most timelines have widespread EV adoption as a nearer reality than ubiquitous fully autonomous vehicle use. And EV drivetrain designs are all converging on the use of a single speed transmission. So, by the time we have vehicles that drive us around, the EV will already be well on its way to obsoleting the ICE and the multispeed transmission (manual, DCT, planetary, CVT, and anything else) with it.