Jan. 16, 2007

BMW’s SMG made Automobile’s
year-end awards summary but,
alas, under the heading of
“It seemed like a good idea at the time”
BMW’s sequential manual gearbox, or SMG, was cited in Automobile magazine’s end of year awards, but one BMW will likely not feature in its corporate trophy case. BMW was No. 2 on a list of “It seemed like a good idea at the time” ideas, being honored along with the three-rows-of-seats Jeep Commander (No. 1); the ongoing renaming of Lincoln’s sedan from Zyphyr to MKZ (pronounced as three letters) to Mark Z and back to MKZ, and the Aviator crossover from MKX to Mark X to MKX (No. 3); and DaimlerChrysler’s “Ask Dr. Z” campaign (No. 4).

“BMW’s fans rejoice that the M5,” Automobile said, “heretofore available only with the company’s herky, jerky SMG automated manual, is a adding a traditional six-speed stick for 2007.”


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