Enthusiasts will only have a few months left to order a manual version of the BMW M5, as the automaker will drop it from the lineup once the new generation will be introduced.
The sad news came from BMW M GmbH President, Frank van Meel, who told Car&Driver that the six-speed manual transmission doesn’t appeal to M5 buyers anymore and will no longer be available after the current model will leave production this fall.
Developed specifically for the US market and having to cope with the 560 HP and 500 pound-feet (678 Nm) of torque produced by the 4.4-liter M Twin Power Turbo V8, the gearbox will also be dropped from the M6 too, as "demand has dropped to zero" for such a model.
BMW's decision will not affect other M models, which will continue to be offered with the manual gearbox option: "On M2, M3 and M4, the manual transmission will stay", said van Meel.
In the meantime, the Germans are prepping a new generation of the M5, which will reportedly add an AWD option and more than 600 HP from an upgraded version of the current 4.4-liter V8 mill. There is no official presentation date available yet on the range-topper 5-Series, but we'll likely see it sometime next year.