Are you tired of all cars being automatic? There is a brand that wants to save pure driving

The persistence of the manual transmission in the automotive world is being challenged by increasing emissions regulations and a market that favors automatic transmissions.

However, BMW, the legendary German premium car brand, remains hopeful that this option will be retained in its future models. This is despite having stated last February that they were not very interested in keeping manual transmissions.

A serious problem in cars with a lot of horsepower, such as BMWs from the M range

Sylvia Neubauer, Vice President of Customers, Brand and Sales at BMW, stated in a recent interview that the engineers of the division are actively working to find a solution that allows for the continuation of the manual gear shift, although precise technical details have not yet been revealed.

The main difficulty facing BMW M does not lie in the power of its engines, but in the torque they generate. The inline six-cylinder engines, like the S58, produce torque figures that exceed the absorption capacity of current manual transmissions, creating limitations for their use in new models. For example, the BMW M2 CS does not offer a manual gearbox option due to this mechanical incapacity.

A possible solution that BMW M engineers are considering is to artificially limit the torque of the versions that use a manual transmission, a strategy already implemented in the M2, where the automatic version exceeds the torque of the manual. This decision could spark a debate among enthusiasts who prioritize performance over the driving experience.

Currently, the BMW M models that still offer the manual option are the M2, M3, and M4, although the M3 is at the end of its life cycle. With the increasing pressure to reduce emissions and the obvious shift towards automatic transmissions, the brand will have to decide how to address this issue without alienating its more purist customer base.