To be honest, we are not surprised with this news but some BMW enthusiasts might be a little bleak that there will never be another M car with a dual-clutch automatic transmission again.
Dirk Hacker, Head of Development at BMW M, told Top Gear magazine the DCT is a thing of the past as the German luxury brand favours ZF’s eight-speed, torque-converter automatic instead.
“The double clutch, from BMW M’s point of view these days, it’s gone,” Hacker said. “It’s now manual or automatic, and automatic electrified for the future.”
“Around the M5 [F90] there was a big discussion, not only for the automatic transmission but also for other things. And the decision was not only because of cost, but also because of comfort [to go with automatic], because we got a lot of reactions about manoeuvring, parking, no rolling if you leave the pedal, and so on.” he added.
“The automatic is better performing than the double clutch. In the M4 CSL it’s faster shifting and on the other side, we also use this automatic in the new M4 GTR race car,” Hacker also explained.
What about the good old do-it-yourself manual gearbox? Well, he commented on that too and confirmed it will be around for another six to seven years.