Like it or not, the era of the fun and engaging manual transmission is coming to an end. Heck, even combustion engine cars are threatened by the rise of electric vehicles (EVs), which are said to lack the emotion and engagement traditionally contributed by an engine. This is an inevitable “evolution” in the automotive industry, and BMW’s M division is no exception here. So, should carmakers just implement fake gear shifts into EVs to help make driving them more engaging and less bland? Well, this is apparently what BMW M is planning to do with its future EV models, according to a report by Top Gear.
BMW M CEO, Frank Van Meel shared that he likes how Hyundai was thinking when building the Ioniq 5 N, which just in case you aren’t familiar with is an all-electric hot SUV that comes with simulated gearshifts, pop and bangs, and even a drift mode.
“I like the way they think – that’s the way we think as well. You need to have feedback (in the car). If you’re on the track you don’t have time to look at your speedometer or tachometer. If you’re racing, if you take the time to look at your display, two cars will overtake you. So what you want to have is a way to know what gear you’re in, a way to ‘feel’ the revs,” said Van Meel.
So yes, BMW M’s future EVs, at least some of them, will come with simulated gears despite not having an actual gearbox.
“We’ve been working on this for some years already and I think we have some very interesting approaches to this (problem),” said Van Meel.
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“In a pure EV with one gear, no sound and no emotion, you don’t know if you’re doing 125, 150 or whatever. You need a solution for that. You have to find a connection to the brain of the driver, without forcing you to look at your speedometer. So I think what (Hyundai) did with gear emulation and sound – which is actually what we’re working on already – is the way to go. We need something like that in our fast-performance cars,” the CEO added.
If you’ve seen or watched enough content online about cars like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, you will notice those simulated sounds and features are not necessarily everyone’s favourite, even among enthusiasts of combustion engine cars. Still, the BMW M boss is not worried about his brand being labelled as “inauthentic” due to the fake noise, as the simulated noise will always be synchronised with the driver’s inputs.
Van Meel also added that BMW M won’t be making fake supercar or spaceship noise for its future EVs.
“We wouldn’t do a fake supercar or spaceship noise. I don’t think the ‘WRC sound’ in the Hyundai sounded like a true WRC car, but I like the way they think,” he said.
BMW M Head of Development Dirk Hacker also added, “I think it’s very important to create a new dimension of an authentic sports car, with the driver at the centre, and not to do a ‘PlayStation’. I think we have to take care not to add too many features, and to have ‘one mission’ with our cars, not to spread it too wide.”
As of today, BMW has yet to offer a full-fledged M all-electric sports car just yet. The first of which is currently in the works and is rumoured to be an EV equivalent to the M3. Set to debut sometime around 2027, the car is built based on the i4 M50, and will be underpinned by the Neue Klasse platform with a rear-wheel drive (RWD) layout.
By the way, Hyundai’s current Executive Technical Advisor in Europe was the boss of BMW M ten years ago. He quit the German firm after 31 years of service and joined Hyundai to be one of the key leaders in building the performance brand. And who ever expected that a hot electric SUV from Hyundai would get praise from BMW M?
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