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Originally Posted by 111R
I predict that within 5 years or so, you'll be hard-pressed to buy any BMW in the USA with a manual transmission. The take rate keeps going down as the automatics/DCT's get better and the younger customers can afford to buy/lease BMW's.
It comes down to the requirements our government places on manufacturers for each drivetrain configuration they sell here. BMW reaches a tipping point for each model when the cost of meeting these requirements exceeds the potential profit made from the sales of manual-equipped cars.
It's too bad, as I for one enjoy driving manual-equipped cars. I've never owned a car with an automatic, other than those for my wife/kids. It's also great theft protection, as more and more potential car thieves will pass up a manual car, as they don't know how to drive one.
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My hope is that if BMW decides to reduce the number of cars that you can option with a MT, they leave it in the more enthusiast-driven cars like the 35i and M3/M4. But even then, with cars becoming more powerful (the M3/M4 will reach 500+ HP one day) then MT is just going to die out because it's almost foolish to use a MT on a turbo engine with that much power and torque.
If you want a MT from BMW in the future, it's likely going to be in a MINI.