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CARMEL, CA – No auto maker can afford to ignore the proliferation of electronic gadgets in everyday life.

Smartphones, iPads and MP3 players have become appendages. If people had to choose between losing toes or unlimited access to their devices, many likely would pick the former.

This strange new man-machine interface poses particular challenges for German auto makers, such as BMW, that have built their reputations around the notion driving, itself, is a sacred act and the automobile a holy object.

So along comes BMW’s ’12 650i coupe, a wickedly fast beast of a sports car whose 400-hp twin-turbo reverse-flow 4.4L V-8 treats asphalt as if it were an appetizer.

But the 650i’s road-carving prowess is not the primary pitch at the media launch of the vehicle here.

Instead, the conversation centers on the Bang & Olufsen surround-sound audio system and the “ConnectedDrive” mobility package that includes automatic high beams, lane-departure warning, a color head-up display, night vision and adaptive cruise control.

And there is a completely separate presentation about BMW’s partnership with music-provider MOG to certify a “smartphone app,” so customers can have on-demand streaming music in the cabin.

All this stuff is cool – and might even make driving safer and more enjoyable for some – but is it central to the experience behind the wheel of the Ultimate Driving Machine? Years ago, Bavarian loyalists would have said, “Heck no!”