OXFORD, England ? At first glance down the assembly line at BMW?s plant here, it?s almost impossible to tell the new Minis from the newer Minis.

Even the workers have to glance at television screens, which show each car in every color. On a recent Saturday, a black Mini Cooper S was followed by a red convertible and finally by a bright ochre Mini that was the latest version for 2007. Only its headlights and its slightly bigger size set it off from its siblings.

All of which raises an obvious question: Is this version of the Mini different enough to keep its outsize buzz going for a second generation?

It is no mean feat ? the industry abounds with cars of the moment whose moment has passed, most notably Volkswagen?s New Beetle, to which the Mini is most frequently compared.

Like Mini, the New Beetle got off to a fast start, only to lose steam several years later ? something Mini has avoided so far. One sign of its success is that at a time when many car companies routinely offer $3,000 or more in rebates and other deals, there have never been such discounts, only some lease deals, on Minis, which typically sell for $18,000 to $25,000.

That is why much of the auto industry is watching the new Mini?s introduction as an important marketing case study.

So far, the Mini has helped create an entirely new category of “personality” small cars like the Scion models sold by Toyota. These cars are bought not for their size or fuel economy but for their styling and overall cachet, said Karl Bauer, the editor in chief of Edmunds.com, a Web site that offers car-buying advice.

A key reason both cars are so popular is that owners can customize them with almost every imaginable option, making Mini a challenge to build even if it does not appear to be that different from the next Mini on the line.

The modern incarnation of the swinging 1960?s car, originally designed in 1959 by Sir Alex Issigonis (as an homage to John Cooper, the famed race designer), became an industry darling in Japan, Europe and especially the United States, where Mini barely made an impression in its early years. Although it remained on the market for more than 30 years in its native Britain, only 20,000 Minis were sold over more than three decades in the United States.

All that changed with the latest Mini, introduced in 2002 in an unprecedented marketing blitz that followed a similar effort in Europe the year before. All told, 875,000 Minis have been sold worldwide in 70 countries since then.

When it was introduced, Mini meant almost nothing in the United States, save to people who remembered that the Beatles each owned one. So to build demand, the company used a sales strategy that mirrored the car?s less-is-more size.

BMW allowed just 70 dealers to sell the car. They were deluged with orders from the start, remarkable given that only 2 percent of Americans had ever heard of the original car in 1999, according to surveys by BMW, which builds the Mini.

There was no national television advertising and the car was promoted primarily on the Internet, in ads painted on city buildings and on cards handed out at auto shows.

BMW put Minis on top of sport utilities and drove them around 24 cities, including New York. Because of all that, Mini has sold five times as many cars ? more than 100,000 ? as it ever sold in the United States during the earlier incarnation.

“They did that by having it be very cool-looking, with fun driving dynamics and all kinds of options,” said Mr. Brauer.

Not everyone was ready for the Mini. It proved too small for some owners who did not feel comfortable driving it amid tractor-trailers on the highway.

Moreover, BMW recommends that owners use premium unleaded gasoline, which shot above $4 a gallon in parts of the country this summer.

But many owners get around those discomforts by adding a Mini to their household fleet, not relying on it for their sole transportation.

That was the case for Chris Tuveson, a 41-year-old urologist in Fond du Lac, Wis.

He still owns a Mitsubishi Montero S.U.V. but prefers driving his silver 2006 Mini Cooper S, even though it is too small to hold his children or much more than a doctor?s satchel.

The Mini “has become my fun and my workhorse car,” he said. “My S.U.V. just sits unless I need it for something big.”

With buyers like that, everyone at BMW, from chief executive Norbert Reithofer on down, say they believe it could sell far more Minis. “It will be a success story in the future, definitely,” he said.

Yet it has deliberately limited American sales to about 25,000 annually, out of the 200,000 that this plant produces each year.

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IT has been nearly 30 years since two debuts, of an engine and a car, ushered in the modern era of BMW. At the 1977 Frankfurt Motor Show, the company displayed a new version of its highly respected in-line 6-cylinder engine. That was also the year when BMW began importing its 3 Series coupe to America.

At that point, the first 3 Series car, the 320, had been on sale in Europe for nearly two years; it was a handsome replacement for the boxy 2002, the original Ultimate Driving Machine. But while the 320 had a come-hither price of less than $9,000 ? almost unimaginable in today?s world of six-figure performance cars ? it had come only a 4-cylinder engine.

The new 6 changed that, though only for Europeans. It would be seven more years before BMW would entrust Americans with the smooth-running, more powerful engine.

The 320 became a legendary success, igniting sales and helping to transform the Bavarian automaker from a niche brand to a respected mass-market player. But in 1984, BMW replaced the beloved 320 with two new derivatives: the 318i, perhaps the crummiest Bimmer ever, a gutless wunderkind that cost twice as much as the 320, and an even pricier 6-cylinder upgrade.

Buyers proved willing to pay dearly for straight 6?s, and over the next 20 years they did so in ever higher numbers. In the same period, the basic engine architecture and output changed relatively little.

For 2007, BMW has brought out new fifth-generation coupes, the BMW 328i and 335i, cheering enthusiasts who haven?t seen a new two-door 3 Series since 1999. Both cars have new 3-liter in-line engines, which BMW insists are its most sophisticated 6?s yet.

But as BMW celebrates the pearl anniversary of its 6-cylinder 3 Series (in case you?re thinking of sending a gift), I find myself wondering, ?How much longer can this go on?? The in-line 6 has, arguably, come to define this car. But insomuch as horsepower expectations escalate from year to year, where else can BMW go with its 6-shooter? From a development standpoint, will they still be viable power plants seven or eight years from now, when the sixth-generation 3 Series arrives?

Never suggest to anyone at BMW that a V-6, now the power plant of choice for most competitors, might be a better alternative; that?s as heretical as suggesting that sauerkraut is too sour, that wiener schnitzel ought to include wieners or that iDrive controls were a blunder.

BMW doesn?t easily change course. The basic layout of six cylinders in a row produces a velvet-smooth, almost vibration-free supply of power. But V-6?s, while less smooth, have often been coaxed into generating more horsepower and torque ? outrageous amounts, in fact, if they are turbocharged to force in more air for combustion.

To get more power from in-line 6?s, BMW has made them rev ever higher, and increased their displacement. As size grows, however, fuel efficiency declines.

For its 2007 models, and to one-up its competitors in the horsepower wars, BMW had to adjust its conservative corporate mindset and reconsider its decades-old stance against turbocharging. BMW always believed the tradeoff for turbocharging would be searing-hot operating temperatures, poorer fuel economy and unacceptable throttle lag while the turbos spooled up.

But technology advances have changed the game. The latest turbochargers can work more precisely with direct fuel injection, yielding a broader power band and unexpectedly better mileage.

The new 335i?s 3-liter engine has twin Mitsubishi turbochargers and is rated at 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque. The outgoing M3 supercar, with its larger 3.2-liter, 333-horsepower 6, can barely outrun it. Car and Driver magazine reports that the 335i?s 0-to-60 m.p.h. time of 4.9 seconds is just 0.1 second slower than the current M3, which costs at least $7,000 more.

The 335i, however, consumes far less fuel than the M3; the new coupe carries a rating of 20 miles a gallon in town, 29 on the highway, compared with the M3?s 16/23.

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IT has been nearly 30 years since two debuts, of an engine and a car, ushered in the modern era of BMW. At the 1977 Frankfurt Motor Show, the company displayed a new version of its highly respected in-line 6-cylinder engine. That was also the year when BMW began importing its 3 Series coupe to America.

At that point, the first 3 Series car, the 320, had been on sale in Europe for nearly two years; it was a handsome replacement for the boxy 2002, the original Ultimate Driving Machine. But while the 320 had a come-hither price of less than $9,000 ? almost unimaginable in today?s world of six-figure performance cars ? it had come only a 4-cylinder engine.

The new 6 changed that, though only for Europeans. It would be seven more years before BMW would entrust Americans with the smooth-running, more powerful engine.

The 320 became a legendary success, igniting sales and helping to transform the Bavarian automaker from a niche brand to a respected mass-market player. But in 1984, BMW replaced the beloved 320 with two new derivatives: the 318i, perhaps the crummiest Bimmer ever, a gutless wunderkind that cost twice as much as the 320, and an even pricier 6-cylinder upgrade.

Buyers proved willing to pay dearly for straight 6?s, and over the next 20 years they did so in ever higher numbers. In the same period, the basic engine architecture and output changed relatively little.

For 2007, BMW has brought out new fifth-generation coupes, the BMW 328i and 335i, cheering enthusiasts who haven?t seen a new two-door 3 Series since 1999. Both cars have new 3-liter in-line engines, which BMW insists are its most sophisticated 6?s yet.

But as BMW celebrates the pearl anniversary of its 6-cylinder 3 Series (in case you?re thinking of sending a gift), I find myself wondering, “How much longer can this go on?” The in-line 6 has, arguably, come to define this car. But insomuch as horsepower expectations escalate from year to year, where else can BMW go with its 6-shooter? From a development standpoint, will they still be viable power plants seven or eight years from now, when the sixth-generation 3 Series arrives?

Never suggest to anyone at BMW that a V-6, now the power plant of choice for most competitors, might be a better alternative; that?s as heretical as suggesting that sauerkraut is too sour, that wiener schnitzel ought to include wieners or that iDrive controls were a blunder.

BMW doesn?t easily change course. The basic layout of six cylinders in a row produces a velvet-smooth, almost vibration-free supply of power. But V-6?s, while less smooth, have often been coaxed into generating more horsepower and torque ? outrageous amounts, in fact, if they are turbocharged to force in more air for combustion.

To get more power from in-line 6?s, BMW has made them rev ever higher, and increased their displacement. As size grows, however, fuel efficiency declines.

For its 2007 models, and to one-up its competitors in the horsepower wars, BMW had to adjust its conservative corporate mindset and reconsider its decades-old stance against turbocharging. BMW always believed the tradeoff for turbocharging would be searing-hot operating temperatures, poorer fuel economy and unacceptable throttle lag while the turbos spooled up.

But technology advances have changed the game. The latest turbochargers can work more precisely with direct fuel injection, yielding a broader power band and unexpectedly better mileage.

The new 335i?s 3-liter engine has twin Mitsubishi turbochargers and is rated at 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque. The outgoing M3 supercar, with its larger 3.2-liter, 333-horsepower 6, can barely outrun it. Car and Driver magazine reports that the 335i?s 0-to-60 m.p.h. time of 4.9 seconds is just 0.1 second slower than the current M3, which costs at least $7,000 more.

The 335i, however, consumes far less fuel than the M3; the new coupe carries a government rating of 20 miles a gallon in town, 29 on the highway, compared with the M3?s 16/23.

The only lag I felt was around 1,500 r.p.m., when I tried to leave cellphone yakkers and other slowpokes behind. The six-speed manual transmission seemed to have more gears than it needed; usually, when I wanted to do something in a hurry, I wasn?t anywhere near the right gear. I actually preferred the automatic, which can pick the proper gear faster than mortal man.

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CLEMSON, S.C. ? When Clemson University received $10 million from the German automaker BMW in 2002, the money helped jump-start a $1.5 billion automotive research and educational center. It also led to a partnership that both the automaker and the university acknowledge has grown extraordinarily close.

In return for the largest cash donation ever received by the school, Clemson gave the company some unusual privileges, including a hand in developing a course of study. Clemson?s president drives a silver BMW X5 sport utility vehicle, compliments of BMW, whose only North American plant is 50 miles away.

At Clemson?s urging, BMW in large part created the curriculum for an automotive graduate engineering school. The company also drew up profiles of its ideal students; it gave Clemson, a state-supported university, a list of professors and specialists to interview, and even had approval rights over the school?s architectural look.

With its first students to be in class this fall, the project, known as the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research, is a particularly rich example of cooperation between a multinational corporation and a university. Several automotive suppliers, including Michelin, the tire company, and the Timken Company, a maker of bearings, have also contributed financing to the project, in part by endowing professorships at the new graduate school.

But BMW is the lead player. Details about the arrangement between Clemson and BMW have emerged from a lawsuit brought last year by a Florida developer who claims the university had signed a deal with him to start an automotive center.

Clemson?s original plan with the developer was to build a high-speed wind tunnel that would cater to Nascar race teams and carmakers, including BMW. But the developer claims that BMW muscled him aside to pursue its far more ambitious plans.

Some critics wonder whether the university is blurring the line between academia and business and question how much control companies should have in such partnerships.

Alliances between universities and corporations are not uncommon, but some have drawn fire. In 1998, the University of California, Berkeley, and the pharmaceutical company Novartis reached a $25 million deal to develop drugs, which was later criticized by some students and faculty members as compromising academic freedom. Other university partnerships, some with automakers, have been less controversial. Ohio State University, for example, is working with General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler and Honda on fuel efficiency and other projects.

?It?s a new model to invite private interests to partner so aggressively with you,? said Robert T. Geolas, the director of the International Center for Automotive Research, which the university regards as crucial to its goal of becoming a Top 20 public university. But Mr. Geolas added that ?there ought to be a way to put together the two without disrupting their core missions.?

Prof. Sheldon Krimsky, who teaches urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University and has written on the commercialization of universities, said, ?It looks like you?ve got a profit-making corporation that?s calling the shots in a university setting.?

Robert M. Hitt, manager of public relations at BMW?s plant in Greer, S.C., says that ?BMW has not captured Clemson.? But he later added, ?Where are we going to get our future managers from, our future department heads??

Dr. Christian E. G. Przirembel, Clemson?s vice president for research and economic development, argued that although BMW and Clemson had ?two very different missions and very different cultures, we are a not-for-profit, and our core mission is to educate.?

The partnership, he said, is in line with the university?s land-grant mission of helping drive the regional economy.

Japanese and German carmakers have turned the region into a Detroit of the South. According to state figures, the auto industry employs 31,000 people in South Carolina. The BMW S.U.V. that Clemson?s president, James F. Barker, is driving is part of a pool that the automaker has provided to state leaders.

A Clemson spokeswoman, Sandy Woodward, said the car, which can be traded in every 10,000 miles, was assigned to Mr. Barker by the Clemson University Foundation. Mr. Barker?s employment contract, like those of many university presidents, includes the use of a car.

Merrill Goozner, director of the Integrity in Science Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group based in Washington, said the use of the car was highly unusual given the partnership between Clemson and BMW.

The Florida developer who is suing Clemson, Clifford D. Rosen, contends in the court papers that BMW and state officials worked together to push him out of a deal he had with Clemson. Mr. Rosen claims that BMW threatened to take its business elsewhere unless it could make the project serve its own research and educational needs.

The lawsuit has produced documents that indicate how much control BMW sought in the project.

Handwritten notes from the files of Doug Richardson, the chief financial officer of Clemson?s endowment, of an exchange between Clemson and BMW officials say that ?BMW is going to drive the entire campus.? The notes, dated August 2002, were obtained by Mr. Rosen?s lawyer through discovery and later filed with the court.

The notes also indicate that BMW officials were sharply critical of Clemson officials? initial plan to include Mr. Rosen in the project.

By September 2002, a letter written by a lawyer at Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough, a law firm representing the university, said that Clemson would ?ensure that while grants and endowments may be received from other automotive manufacturers, BMW will have an exclusive status with regard to the Clemson campus.?

Through its new school and unusual partnership with BMW, Clemson becomes the first university in the nation to offer a doctoral degree in automotive engineering.

The Center for Automotive Research is being built in stages on 250 wooded acres along Interstate 85 on the outskirts of Greenville, 50 miles northeast of the Clemson campus.

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BMW said the number of cars sold in the first three months also represented a new high, leading the company to predict a very good year for 2006. The total number of BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brand cars sold increased by 13.9% to 332,923 units from 2005.

“We are well on our way to achieving our target of a group profit before tax of E4 billion,” said Helmut Panke, the chairman of BMW. “We also expect earnings to increase in 2006 at an operating level excluding the exceptional gain from the exchangeable bond on Rolls-Royce shares.”

The profit after tax rose by 80.6% to $1.2 billion in the first quarter. Earnings per share increased to $1.83, up from 78 cents the year before. As a result of the jump in earnings, the pre-tax return on sales increased from 7.9% to 11.2%.

Before tax earnings rose by nearly 58% to $2.15 billion, helped by the sale of engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce yielding E375 million. Excluding this sale, BMW’s profit before tax still increased by 12% to $1.53 billion.

BMW plans to bring out numerous new car models in 2006, including the Z4 Coupe and the BMW Group. In total, the investment in new products for the period between 2005 and 2009 is estimated to be in the region of $24 billion. This includes two completely new model series that are planned to come onto the markets from 2008 onwards, and expansions to the Mini and Rolls-Royce lines.

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