BMW Dropping Manual Transmission Option from the M5 and M6

For true car nuts, there is nothing better than having total control over your car’s power via a manual transmission. Unfortunately, we three-pedal lovers are becoming less and less common each year, especially with the advancements being made in automatic transmission technology. This disappearance of the slush-box automatics and introduction of precision shifting performance automatics has left the manual transmission as an undesirable hunk of metal.

The BMW M-Series is a clear example of where a manual transmission is at its best. With the baby brother, the M3, punching out 414 ponies and its two big brothers, the M5 and M6, slated to wallop the concrete with 560 horsepower; we think a manual transmission is the only way to really experience them. Well, apparently we are in the minority, as according to Inside Line, only 15 to 20 percent of the M5s sold in the U.S. last year were six-speed manuals and BMW has taken notice.

With this, BMW has decided that the next generation M5 and M6 will not be engineered with a manual transmission option, leaving just a dual-clutch automatic as the only available transmission. This makes the reports that the U.S.-bound M6 models will come with a manual option seem like they were just pipe dreams. The M3, however, will still receive its typical no-cost manual transmission option.

Fortunately for us, the dual clutch transmission is just as responsive, if not more responsive, than a manual transmission. Plus, there is no clutch to mess with, so your left foot can take a much needed break from all of the thrashing it has received over the years. To boot, this automatic transmission has also proved to be a more fuel-economy-friendly option over manual transmissions, which is pretty much the opposite of what we have had crammed into our heads for the last, say, 100 years!

Customize your own Mustang and Ford may just give it to you!

Ford has just unveiled an updated customizer for 2013 and although this may seem like a non-news event, they threw in a giveaway to pique our interests. This new customizer allows potential buyers, or bored employees, to play with all the options available for the Mustang, but it also provides the chance to win "Your Fantasy Mustang." In fact, they will be giving away four different Mustangs: a Mustang V6, a Mustang GT, a Mustang Boss 302, and a Mustang Shelby GT500.

All you have to do is go online, create the Mustang of your dreams, save it, and start praying. At the end of the year, Ford will pick four winners from all the cars entered into the contest. The new customizer will allow you to apply a dizzying array of colors, graphics, body kits, and wheels to achieve the look you want. The winners will have their cars produced exactly as they designed them to look, so be careful what you wish for!

No Nose Job for Acura, Despite a Beak of Monstrous Proportions

Nearly every automotive brand has its own little gimmick. Ford has its blue oval, Chevy has its bow-tie, Buick has its shields, and on it goes. Acura, however, never really developed a gimmick until recently and it certainly made up for its lack of said gimmick by making one for the ages.

Acura’s newfound gimmick was what it dubbed “the shield” or as us automotive buffs have dubbed it “the beak.” As of late, Acura has received a good bit of flack regarding said beak, and even its own design head admits that it went “a little overboard at some points” when speaking about “the shield.”

According to multiple reports, however, Acura has no plans to drop the beak any time soon, but it may massage it a little on certain models. We already saw that the nose was slightly reduced on the ILX, though it was still pretty large. The NSX Concept was another that looked as if the beak was trimmed back a little bit, but it was also still very noticeable.

It’s one thing to have your own little niche carved out in automotive history, but it’s another thing when that niche suddenly becomes the focal point for your cars. We are willing to bet that “the shield” gets trimmed down over the next few years and the largest cut down just may happen when Acura finally releases the production NSX.

Then again, car companies can be a little stubborn when it comes to admitting failure and letting designs linger around for way too long, so we may be in for several decades of this massive beak. Only time will tell.

Ferrari North Europe Setting out to Reclaim its Parade of Ferraris Record

World records are a funny thing, because you can easily set something just by thinking up a new thing that no one else has. Once you do it, you’re the record holder, until someone else does it. Ferrari of North Europe did something of that sort in 2007 by setting the Guinness world record for number of Ferraris in a Parade, which ended up being 385 cars.

The record was broken recently with a total of 490 cars and Ferrari North Europe plans on reclaiming this title in September. Ferrari has already accumulated more than enough entrants (600) to beat the record, but it wants to make it stick by hitting the 1,000-entrant mark. The event will take place at Ferrari Racing Days at Silverstone Circuit on September 15th and 16th.

Ferrari owners get into the Ferrari Racing Day event free of charge and can even register for the Guinness word record attempt by clicking here.

The rules of the world record attempt are pretty straightforward. The cars must travel over a distance of more than 2 miles with a distance of no more than two car lengths between each other. Simple enough, huh?

So, not only can you get free tickets for taking part in the record-setting event, but you can be forever be recognized as part of a world record in Guinness – whatever that’s worth these days. Either way, the Ferrari racing days event is always a blast, and getting free entry makes it all the better.

PSA Tie-In With GM will Likely End Part of its Relationship With BMW

The web tying varying automakers to one another is a very complex, yet delicate thing. One strand heading the wrong direction can cause an automaker to break off another connection, and we see it every day. One prime example was when AMG hacked off its advertising ties with Ducati just because Audi bought the company. Really, what do motorcycles have to do with your competing with Audi in the automobile realm?

Well, we have another bit of info to pass on in regards to one partnership killing another. Recently PSA, the parent company of Peugeot and Citroen, increased its stake in a partnership with GM affiliate, Opel, to develop four vehicle platforms together. This leads BMW to believe that PSA will not have the ability to fulfill its partnership duties in reference to BMW’s developing Hybrid platform.

A BMW spokesperson said “We are discussing conditions for the exit of PSA but we will not make any payments,” in an interview with Reuters. In addition, PSA has accepted the fact that this new relationship with GM will force it to “change the conditions” in its partnership with BMW. This likely means that BMW will buy-out PSAs share of the investment in the project and take development into its own hands.

This will not, however, affect the other relationships that BMW and PSA have going on. The largest of these relationships is the partnership between the two to build the MINI Cooper’s engine.

We’ll keep an eye on what’s going on with this development and let you know if anything else pops up. For now, this seems like a pretty open-and-shut case.