BMW’s mass-produced 1997 SMG automated manual first appeared on the E36 M3.
BMW introduced its Sequential Manual Gearbox, or SMG, with the European-market E36-generation M3 during the model’s facelift period. The system was based on a six-speed manual transmission, but electrohydraulic actuators operated the clutch and gear changes. The driver could select gears sequentially or allow the system to shift automatically.
The E36 M3 itself debuted in 1992 and was produced in coupé, convertible and saloon forms. SMG arrived in 1996 for the revised European M3, commonly associated with the 1997 model year. It was therefore the E36 M3—not the later E46 M3 or the E39 M5—that introduced BMW’s mass-produced SMG application.
The E46 M3 later made SMG far more familiar, especially through its second-generation system, but it was not the first BMW M model to receive it. North American buyers also encountered a different transmission story: U.S.-market E36 M3s could have a conventional torque-converter automatic, while the early SMG offering was primarily a European-market feature.