The Reason Why BMW Isn’t Giving Up On The Manual Transmission
The Germans have always done things a little differently. Just look atOktoberfest, dubbed the world’s largest “public festival” held to honor “Bavarian tradition.” Those quotes are 100% intended to emphasize the sarcasm that everyone knows this is just an excuse for more than six million people to drink lots and lots of beer for two weeks straight starting in September. More likeBeervarianfestival, right?
According to The New York Times, a paltry 18% of drivers in the United States know how to drive a stick shift, likely due in no small part to the fact that during the 2021 model year,only 1% of cars made for sale in the United States offered a manual transmissionoption.
The Italian supercar makerLamborghinihas washed its hands of manual shifters. A move likely influenced by parent companyVolkswagen (which owns the Italian supercar companybut sells it through its Audi division) has decidedto do away with manual transmissionsin all of its cars. EvenChevy removed the four-on-the-floor optionin its Corvettes. So in an age whenmanual transmissions are going extinct, BWM is taking a hard left when everyone else seems to be turning right.
Sticking it to the man
The Bavarian carmaker is double clutching against the flow of traffic because half of the M2 series “Beamers” purchased are being ordered with stick shift. Frank van Meel, head of the M series line, said in an interview with Autocar thatevery second M2 “car is bought with a manual"because drivers want to “tame the beast,” and the only way they can do that is with a manual gearbox.
Van Meel added that even though the manual gearbox is heavier, slower, and gives the car worse gas mileage, “the fanbase really love the manual.” Quite simply, getting rid of the manual transmission option doesn’t make business sense because it’s just too popular. In fact, according to Van Meel, “the US is the biggest market” for these stick-equipped M2s (via Autocar), a statement that flies in the face of the perception that manual transmissions are a dying breed.
The new 2023 M2 models — with and without sticks — won’t appear on showroom floors until the end of 2022, but customers can ordera 6-speed manual optionon both the M3 and M4 models.
