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BMW M5 manual mess-up

By Chris chilton Motor Industry 27 January 2007 01:34 North American customers were delighted when BMW bowed to their demands for a full three-pedal manual version of the current V10 M5 super saloon, but aren’t quiet so enamoured with the finished product. The issue is not with the gearbox itself – BMW successfully replaced the European model’s seven-speed SMG box with the old-shape M5’s six-speed manual – but with the compromises that were needed to get there. Without the benefit of computer control for the opening and closing of the clutch plates, M division’s engineers couldn’t eliminate axle tramp under hard take-offs.

Ford Fiesta ST concept (2011) at the Frankfurt motor show

This is the new Ford Fiesta ST, just unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show. It’s just a concet car for now, but we know a production version of the new Ford Fiesta ST will be revealed at the 2012 Geneva motor show, and that sales will start in the UK in time for next September’s plate change. It’s the same format Ford followed with the Focus ST, revealing a near-production concept at the 2010 Paris motor show, and then pulling the wraps off the real thing last night.

Ford design chief J Mays retires, replaced by Moray Callum

J Mays, Ford Motor Co.'s global design chief and one of the last senior executives remaining from the Jacques Nasser era, is retiring from the company along with two other veteran senior executives. Moray Callum, 58, design director for Ford in North America, will replace Mays, 59, the automaker said in a statement today. Also retiring after long Ford careers are Jim Tetreault, 57, vice president of North American manufacturing, and Martin Mulloy, vice president of labor relations.