When we covered the debut of the manual transmission Toyota Supra, we told you to "please save all your BMW jokes until the end of the presentation." You may now make your BMW jokes. The presentation has ended, and the manual transmission from the Toyota Supra is a BMW-derived gearbox built at least in part by the same guys that do BMW's (and many other automaker's) transmissions: ZF.

We're a little wounded by the clever wording in Toyota's initial press materials, which said that the Supra's transmission "has been engineered and tuned specifically for use with the coupe's straight-six engine." Toyota even called it "newly developed." Admittedly, that last part is actually at least partially true.

A Toyota spokesperson confirmed to The Drive that "the parts used in the gearbox come from a combination of ZF manufactured manual transmissions, but the parts combination is exclusive to GR Supra," and that "Toyota partnered with ZF and BMW on the design/layout of shift lever/pedal, decision of final gear ratio, tuning of iMT [rev-matching and upshift smoothing] function, and shift feel."

So, in some ways, Toyota wasn't being clever. And at any rate, why should we be mad? Isn't this what all of us were supposed to have wanted anyway?

Regardless, where the transmission comes from is actually somewhat interesting. There's some BMW parts commonality, but remember, we asked for it this time. T/D reports the new six-speed has its own BMW parts number (GS6L50TZ for those who care) and appears to be loosely related to the BMW Z4, which already shares a plethora of parts with the Supra.

That Z4 transmission, available overseas with the turbo-four and not the inline-six, is designated very similarly- known internally as the GS6L40LZ. Apparently, that "Lxx" bit connotates the transmission's gear set. So, it sounds like the transmission bell housings are at least the same, with the internals differing between the two models

So, turns out Toyota wasn't being clever with its wording during the debut. At least, as long as the BMW parts catalog isn't lying. The L40 vs. L50 designation should mean the Supra has its own totally unique gear set. Let's just be happy here's another RWD, manual sports car out there.