Look for it in the M2, M3, and M4.
The all-new BMW M2 should insure a three-pedaled exists into 2030.
Everyone knows what’s old is new again. Consider all the retro designs in the automotive industry over the last 15 years or so and the success they’ve garnered. The near future looks as though minivans and even station wagons could make something of a comeback as well, at least thanks to the German automakers. One of them, BMW, wants to keep the manual transmission alive and well for a while yet even though it’s old news.
If it wasn’t for BMW, Porsche, Volkswagen, Honda, and a few other “import” brands, the row-your-own-gears manual transmission would have died some time ago. We’re not forgetting the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Corvette, worry not, but most of the Korean, Japanese, and European automakers still offer the manual transmission on two or more models, and BMW is basically leading the way in this respect. And it looks as though they will until the end of the decade.
“The manual is, unfortunately, not so widespread anymore,” M boss Frank van Meel told CarBuzz. “It’s more in the segments of the M2 and M3, and the M4. And for those cars, we continue offering the manual, and those cars will run for a long time until the end of this decade,” said van Meel.
The fresh-off-the-press M2’s lifecycle should mean that a manual gearbox will be available until its next full revamp expected in 2030. The M3 and M4 meanwhile are two years older which could indicate that the third pedal will be deleted come 2028.
The key here is that Van Meel said that as long as customers want it, they’ll keep offering it. You all know what to do.
2021 BMW M3 | Photo: Olivier Delorme
