BMW M2 May Be the Last M car With a Manual Gearbox Option

As BMW M vice president Dirk Hacker told Autocar, the market has surprised them with the demand for the M2, but the overall interest in manual gearbox is going down. That’s why it is likely that the M2 will be the last model with an optional manual transmission.

“The M2 is tracking at 40-50% above our expectation in terms of sales, with almost half of buyers specifying a manual,” Hacker said. “Demand for cars like the M2, which is probably our purest M product today, has surprised us, and that opens opportunities for building more extreme cars, in the vein of GTS and CSL heritage models.”

“I like manual very much, but the take up rate from customers on cars other than the M2 is just going down. The fact is that a double clutch gearbox delivers better performance and efficiency.”