BMW M wants electric gear changes without the one thing drivers expect
BMW M will give Neue Klasse EVs paddles and virtual steps, but it refuses to fake the power interruption of a conventional gearbox.
An electric car with no gearbox that still lets the driver “shift”? That is exactly the trick BMW M is preparing for its future Neue Klasse performance cars. They will get steering-wheel paddles and virtual steps, but there is one crucial twist: the Germans do not plan to copy the biggest drawback of a conventional transmission — a brief interruption in drive.
BMW M boss Frank van Meel explained that engineers could technically make the electric powertrain behave almost like a conventional automatic or a “robotized gearbox”. But why deliberately take away one of an electric motor's greatest strengths? Instead, BMW M will create several steps with different accelerator-response characteristics. On a track, they should give drivers something fast EVs often lack: an intuitive sense of load, speed and vehicle behavior without constantly glancing at the speedometer.
BMW M plans to follow the same logic with sound. The EV will not be disguised as a V8 or a “straight-six”. The acoustic layer is meant to emphasize what the electric powertrain is actually doing and provide extra feedback, rather than pretend there is a combustion engine under the hood. In other words, BMW M wants more emotion without making the car act like a gasoline model.
The first fully electric BMW M cars of the new generation are due from 2027. The company has already officially confirmed four electric motors — one for each wheel — and the central BMW M Dynamic Performance Control system running through the high-performance Heart of Joy computer. Combustion engines are not disappearing from the M world yet, either: BMW continues developing inline-six engines and V8s to meet new emissions requirements.
It is an intriguing compromise. BMW M will keep familiar paddles, steps and sound, but make all of them work according to the rules of electric propulsion. No theater built around an artificial loss of thrust — only new cues for the driver. And that, it seems, is how Munich intends to preserve the character of M after the conventional gearbox is gone.