The handbook BMW’s days are numbered. BMW M’s head of improvement Dirk Hacker confirmed as a lot in an interview with Prime Gear, saying the M2 will probably be the final automobile from the model to supply a stick shift and three pedals.

“It is not solely a call of BMW, it is also a call of the suppliers,” Hacker advised Prime Gear when requested whether or not the handbook will die with the present M2. “If you happen to have a look round, you will notice the longer term for handbook gearbox suppliers will lower. So I am undecided we can have the likelihood sooner or later—however sooner or later means six, seven years in forecast.”

Different producers are taking a distinct path, bringing the handbook expertise into the electrical period utilizing artificial gear shifts and engine sounds. Toyota confirmed this morning it is creating a efficiency EV with a handbook transmission. However Hacker is not eager on the thought for BMW. “I feel it could possibly be achieved, however we won’t do this,” he advised Prime Gear.

This information jibes with what BMW M boss Frank van Meel mentioned at an occasion final 12 months, the place he confirmed BMW would provide the stick shift till the tip of the last decade. A BMW North America spokesperson declined to touch upon Hacker’s plans, saying that the handbook would proceed to be provided on the present M2, M3, and M4.

Hacker additionally mentioned the dual-clutch transmission is a factor of the previous for BMW M vehicles, touting the superior efficiency discovered within the eight-speed torque converter computerized from ZF.

“The double clutch, from BMW M’s perspective today, it is gone,” he advised Prime Gear. “It is now handbook or computerized, and computerized electrified for the longer term . . . the automated is best performing than the double clutch. Within the M4 CSL it is faster-shifting and on the opposite facet, we additionally use this computerized within the new M4 GTR race automobile.”

Highway & Monitor employees author with a style for high-mileage, rusted-out tasks and newbie endurance racing.