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Say goodbye to the BMW 3 Series' manual transmission

The G20-generation 3 Series will be the first without a stick shift.

Steven Ewing Former managing editor
Steven Ewing spent his childhood reading car magazines, making his career as an automotive journalist an absolute dream job. After getting his foot in the door at Automobile while he was still a teenager, Ewing found homes on the mastheads at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog and Motor1.com before joining the CNET team in 2018. He has also served on the World Car Awards jury. Ewing grew up ingrained in the car culture of Detroit -- the Motor City -- before eventually moving to Los Angeles. In his free time, Ewing loves to cook, binge trash TV and play the drums.
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Steven Ewing
BMW

Pour one out for yet another manual transmission. -- a company that has long offered stick-shift options across many of its model lines -- is officially discontinuing the six-speed manual option in its recently revealed G20-generation sedan.

"The sport automatic [transmission] is standard on both 330i/xi and M340i/xi models," a BMW spokesperson confirmed to Roadshow in an email. "At this time there are no plans to offer a manual transmission for these models."

This isn't just specific to the US, either. A company spokesperson said this is a "global decision" -- BMW will not offer a manual 3 Series in any market.

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Of course, this decision is hardly surprising. recently dropped the manual transmission option in its US-spec A4 sedan, which with the 3 Series directly competes. Similarly, Mercedes doesn't offer a stick-shift option in its range.

The current-generation 3 Series sedan can be had with a manual transmission in its 320i, 330i and 340i guises. Even the coupe and Gran Coupe, which shares its underpinnings with the 3 Series, is available with a six-speed stick in certain trims.

The brand-new 3 Series makes its debut at the Paris Motor Show this week and will arrive in US showrooms in early 2019.