Future BMW M Cars May Not Have Manuals or Huge HP: Exec
The future of BMW M performance cars may not include manual transmissions or more powerful engines.
“From a technical standpoint, the future doesn’t look bright for manual gearboxes. The DCT and auto ’boxes are faster and they have better fuel consumption,” BMW M boss Frank van Meel said to Autocar.
He didn’t quash all hope for future manual transmissions though. “It’s difficult to say we’ll stick to the manual, but we still have a big fan community for manuals and we are not going to take away something the customer wants to have,” he said.
When it comes to more power in M cars, van Meel thinks that the limits have been reached. “For now, 600bhp is the most you can get in an M car,” he said. “We’re at the limit. If you go on adding more horsepower and torque, it’d probably be over the limits.”
[Source: Autocar]
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Stephen covers all of the day-to-day events of the industry as the News Editor at AutoGuide, along with being the AG truck expert. His truck knowledge comes from working long days on the woodlot with pickups and driving straight trucks professionally. When not at his desk, Steve can be found playing his bass or riding his snowmobile or Sea-Doo. Find Stephen on <A title="@Selmer07 on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/selmer07">Twitter</A> and <A title="Stephen on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/117833131531784822251?rel=author">Google+</A>
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the last thing BMW needs is more plastic... crappy aluminum that has problems with stripped threads overheating nightmares... at a certain point it is not streetable, unless you have the luxury of living in a place where you can enjoy the drive... since there will be less people with cash to burn through cars that are only good for 100,000 miles before needing complete rebuilds... the list goes on... when it blows they just tell you to come buy a new one... low end starts at $50K !
Yeah, he'll be fired soon and the new BMW M boss will sing a different tune.