Manual BMW M Cars Are About To Die Out

When we were at the launch of the new M3 and M4 last year, there was one particular nugget of information BMW gave us which stood out: around 95 per cent of people were expected to opt for the dual-clutch gearbox. Given the option in performance cars, it seems automatic is king for buyers, so you can understand why rival cars - like the Mercedes C63 AMG and Audi RS4 - don’t come with a stick shifter option at all. However, it seems that BMW will also be going for the auto only route with its hottest cars.

Speaking to Autocar, BMW M’s new boss Frank van Meel said “From a technical standpoint, the future doesn’t look bright for manual gearboxes. The DCT and auto ’boxes are faster and they have better fuel consumption.” The silver lining is that despite the relative unpopularity, manuals are at least here to stay for now, with Meel going on to say “It’s difficult to say we’ll stick to the manual, but we still have a big fan community for manuals and we are not going to take away something the customer wants to have.”

The F10 M5 is already auto only everywhere except North America, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see its next iteration drop the manual option worldwide. Given Meel’s comments, it’s also likely that the next M3 and M4s will shirk the stick.