BMW Says The Days Of Manuals And DCTs Are Numbered

The vice-president of sales and marketing for BMW’s M division says that

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by Brad Anderson

April 24, 2017 at 12:30

The vice-president of sales and marketing for BMW’s M division says that both manual and dual clutch transmissions will die out.

The imminent death of the manual transmission has been coming for years and shouldn’t surprise anyone, however Peter Quintus’ belief that DCTs are also on the way out might shock a few people.

While speaking to Drive, Quintus said that the advantage of quicker shifts dual-clutch transmissions once had over traditional automatic gearboxes are dwindling.

“It’s more a question of how long has the DCT got to go. How long will it last? We are now seeing automatic transmissions with nine and even 10 speeds, so there’s a lot of technology in modern automatics.”

“The DCT once had two advantages: it was light and its shift speeds were higher. Now, a lot of that shift-time advantage has disappeared as automatics get better and smarter,” Quintus said.

The executive also revealed he isn’t sure if the next-generation M3 or M4 will have the option of a manual transmission.