2014 BMW M4 to be twin-clutch only – reportedly

In another piece of potential bad news for purist, according to a recent report by Autoblog, the upcoming 2014 BMW M4 will be built exclusively with a twin-clutch transmission.

This news comes as no surprise to us as more and more performance cars move away from manual transmission. The inherent efficiency and performance benefits of a dual-clutch gearbox are too good for engineers to ignore.

BMW only offers the M5 with a self-shifter in Australia, but caved in to US fans who demanded the six-speed manual in their M5.

“The trouble is that nobody wants it in Europe or anywhere else, so this will be the last time we do it, even for the hard-core U.S. buyers,” said BMW M’s Head of Development, Albert Biermann during the launch of the BMW M5 in the US.

“We just can’t justify it anymore,” he adds.

However, there is a twist to this story. According to BMW enthusiast site, Bimmerpost, there were previous spy photos of a manual equipped M3 and prototype build sheets showing the new model can be offered with a manual, as well as DCT transmission.

We awaits what BMW has to say eagerly.