Starting this March, BMW will be offering its brilliant 8-speed automatic gearbox as standard on several models. Whether that means the manual gearbox will be dropped altogether for these new cars remains to be seen, but since the 8-speed will be a no-cost addition, demand for the manual will surely drop. Therefore this is either great news for prospective buyers or terrible news for those still cheering for having a third pedal in your car.
The automatic transmission enhances not only comfort, but also the acceleration and efficiency of each respective vehicle and that’s just something you can’t deny. Starting this spring, the BMW 320d xDrive Sedan, the BMW 320d xDrive Touring and the BMW 320d xDrive Gran Turismo will also reap the benefits of this technology. Since the 320d is the best selling model in the EU for BMW, chances are this move will lead to a faster drop of the manual gearbox altogether.
Moreover, as from March 2018, the 8-speed Steptronic transmission will also come as standard on additional BMW 4 Series models. The BMW 420i xDrive Coupe and the BMW 430i Coupe as well as the BMW 420d xDrive Gran Coupe will be the new cars to benefit from this tech as standard. Along with this shift, the diesel models listed above will also get new tech to help filter out harmful emissions.
As from the spring of 2018, BMW BluePerformance technology with AdBlue injection will also become available as standard on all diesel models of the BMW 1 Series, BMW 2 Series, BMW 3 Series and BMW 4 Series along with what BMW calls Selective Catalytic Reduction system. Furthermore, following the BMW X1 xDrive20d, the BMW xDrive18d and the BMW X1 sDrive18d will be fitted with the SCR system. In the case of the BMW X1 xDrive18d and the BMW X1 sDrive 18d, the optimized reduction of emissions is linked to the introduction of a new, now dual fed exhaust system.
