BMW M: The Manual Gearbox Is Popular and Should Remain
The decline of the sedan format over the past two decades has been accompanied by a similar decline of another hallowed automotive feature: The manual transmission. It too is becoming an increasingly rare presence in product offerings.
True, fewer and fewer vehicle buyers are asking for it. It's also true that many manufacturers are offering fewer manual-transmission options. It's a chicken-and-egg phenomenon: less is being offered because it's less popular, and it's becoming less popular because it's being offered less.
Today's technology means that the manual transmission does offer less performance than before, whether it's for acceleration or fuel consumption.
This, in part, has led many to predict the disappearance of the stick shift. But they may be guilty of filing to take into account the passion of a significant number of buyers who still want to drive vehicles equipped with three pedals.
Don’t count the folks at BMW's M division among the doubters. Not that long ago, the head of the division, Frank van Meel, said that this type of transmission was on the verge of disappearing. Now, he wants to keep it around as long as possible, even as he recognizes its shortcomings.
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