MUNICH: Fret not. The manual transmission will live on for years to come in BMW cars.
With demand for manual transmission cars still going strong, BMW is responding to it by saying it has no plans to retire the stick shift.
Autocar of Britain reported BMW M chief Franciscus van Meel as saying that the strong demand was seen in the M2 where half the bookings were for the 6-speed stick shift.
Although manuals are inefficient, they provide an emotional appeal to buyers.
Van Meel said as much when he told Autocar: "From a technical viewpoint, there's little reason to save it. It’s heavier, it's slower and you get worse fuel consumption than the alternative. But the customer and the fanbase really love the manual. It gives a connection to allow them to demonstrate they can tame the beast - and that’s the point. We want to keep it."
The US remains BMW's biggest market for manual M cars.
However, BMW is among a minority in a sea of automakers that are focusing on automatic transmission cars.
Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen have already made it known that they would be stopping the use of manuals soon. Mercedes-Benz plans to phase it out from 2023, while Volkswagen has said it would stop making it from 2030.
