If you listen carefully to Frank van Meel, you can almost hear the gears turning. Not the ones in a six-speed gearbox. The corporate ones.
In a recent interview with Carsales.com.au, the BMW M CEO admitted he isn’t quite sure how customers will respond to the forthcoming all-electric BMW M3. And yet, in the very next breath, he assures us that what they’re developing is “exactly the technology everyone has been waiting for, or waiting for in a high-performance car.”
That’s a bold claim. Maybe even brave. But it also sounds a bit like someone peering into the abyss of enthusiast opinion and hoping it blinks first. Our take? We’re not so sure. And if we’re honest, it doesn’t sound like he is either.
The Return of Combustion (Sort Of)
Now here’s the part that made us sit up straighter. Van Meel pointed to recent regulatory changes that have led to renewed investment in internal combustion engines. BMW, he said, has a long tradition of inline-six engines, iconic, globally beloved, as well as V8s. And crucially, there remains a “big community worldwide” not ready for EVs, or living in places where charging is inconvenient at best.
This is good news. Not shocking news. But good news. BMW’s inline-six is as much a part of the brand’s DNA as Hofmeister kinks and oversteer. Think about the lineage: from the E46 to the current BMW M4, the straight-six has been the spine of the M story. It’s smooth, charismatic, and tunable in ways that make engineers smile.
But let’s temper expectations. Don’t expect an all-new clean-sheet engine family. This isn’t a combustion renaissance. It’s iteration. Evolution of what we already have, likely hybridized, increasingly complex, and carefully engineered to pass whatever emissions hurdle comes next.
BMW has to do this. The segment demands it. The uncertainty around high-performance EVs in this class is real. Customers voting with their wallets are even more real.
And Then… The Manuals
Here’s where things go from cautiously optimistic to genuinely worrying. Van Meel acknowledged that manuals remain popular in certain segments. In the U.S., roughly 50 percent of BMW M2 buyers opt for the six-speed. That’s not niche. That’s half the pie.
But the problem, we’re told, is torque. BMW’s current six-speed is limited to 550Nm. That ceiling restricts performance improvements and effectively disqualifies it from higher-output variants like CS models. Yes, BMW could work with Getrag to engineer a stronger unit. But Getrag, by most accounts, doesn’t see a large enough market to justify the investment.
And then came the line that landed with a dull thud: “From an engineering standpoint, the manual doesn’t really make sense because it limits you in torque and also in fuel consumption.”
But it seems like a sentiment that customers aren’t worried about given the take rate of manuals in the M2 alone. Why do we need more torque? At what point did the horsepower arms race become the only metric that mattered? A manual isn’t about shaving tenths off a 0–60 time. It’s about interactivity. It’s about that moment on a back road where you choose third instead of second, not because it’s faster, but because it feels right.
A manual gearbox is friction. It’s rhythm. It’s the subtle mechanical conversation between driver and drivetrain. Torque limits are a spec-sheet concern. Connection is a soul concern. And that’s the part that feels dangerously undervalued in these comments.
Reading Between the Lines
Van Meel’s final comment was diplomatic, but the subtext was hard to ignore. They’re happy with the manuals they have and plan to keep them “for the next couple of years.” But for future products that will have to comply with increasingly strict EU emissions standards, it’s going to be more difficult to keep them alive.
When the BMW M3 and BMW M4 transition to a hybridized inline-six in the coming years, the manual likely dies with them. The same probably applies to the M2. Electrification plus rising torque outputs will simply outpace what the current gearbox can handle. And if that happens, expect consequences.
Look at the MINI Cooper JCW. Roughly half its sales were manuals. When the manual was dropped, sales fell by over 30 percent. Not a perfect one-to-one comparison, but the lesson is there: remove the engagement, and a meaningful slice of buyers simply walks away.
For the M2 in the U.S., losing the manual could mean losing half its audience. Not overnight. Not literally 50 percent. But close enough to matter.
BMW M stands at a crossroads. On one side: electrified torque, software-defined performance, and staggering acceleration figures. On the other: a clutch pedal and a community that still believes driving is something you do, not something the car optimizes for you.
If manuals disappear from M cars, it won’t just be the end of a transmission option. It’ll be the end of an era, the last mechanical handshake between Munich and the enthusiast who still wants to row their own gears. And once that’s gone, no amount of instantaneous electric torque will quite replace it.