In launching the BMW Mini Cooper, Crispin convinced Playboy to feature the car as a centerfold.
Reid added that companies such as Nissan, BMW Mini and Honda had good plants in the UK that were building desirable cars.
One of the cars they're going to be bringing out is the Fiat 500, which is - if you know the BMW MINI, it's that kind of car.
Third, and most important: While each of the previous variations of the BMW Mini got bigger, gradually moving away from the Mini godhead, the Coupe is actually a tiny bit smaller.
Sales volume in Asia jumped by 31.4% to 493, 393 units, including 327, 341 BMW and Mini cars sold in China.
The launch of a newly developed BMW Group interface technology will provide BMW and MINI drivers with an easy-to-operate, intuitive way of using their iPhone and iPod touch in future BMW Group vehicles.
ENGADGET: BMW supports iPod Out, fills your 2011 auto with 2001's finest user interface
The on-board monitor in BMW and MINI provides users with the simplicity and familiarity they have come to trust in their iPhone and iPod touch and the intuitive and integrated iPod navigation menu can be safely operated through the vehicle's interface controls.
ENGADGET: BMW supports iPod Out, fills your 2011 auto with 2001's finest user interface
Additionally, state-of-the-art iPod features such as custom playlists and Genius, which instantly creates a playlist of songs that go well together from a user's own library, is immediately made available to BMW and MINI drivers through the vehicle's main display. iPod Out requires iOS 4 with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPod touch (second and third generation).
ENGADGET: BMW supports iPod Out, fills your 2011 auto with 2001's finest user interface
BMW's Mini and Daimler's Smart car, make fancy cars, not cheap ones.
Last year GM 's (nyse: GM - news - people ) Chevrolet Corvette as well as new entries like BMW's Mini Cooper, the Lincoln Aviator and the Volvo XC90, were sold almost exclusively to individuals.
But the slumping European economy and the success of its rival BMW's Mini brand has nudged the manufacturer to make a full-scale re-entry into what is still the most profitable single car market in the world (though China is now bigger in volume terms).
Insiders would remember the guerilla marketing campaign BMW employed to introduce Mini in the U.S. market in 2002.
We have little retro cars like the VW New Beetle (and a convertible is coming), the Mini from BMW and the Chrysler PT Cruiser.
The infrastructure, including a substantial building programme, has already been built at Longbridge to facilitate the production of the new Mini and BMW, and productivity at the site has increased hugely in the last 12 months.
BMW, which also owns Mini and Rolls-Royce, delivered 448, 200 vehicles worldwide in the quarter, up 5.3%.
"The U.S. just does not like hatches, " Panke proclaims, despite the success BMW has had with its mini brand.
Fiat's closest competitor is likely the Mini Cooper, from BMW, another iconic minicar reborn.
More recently, BMW got it right when it resurrected the MINI brand as a way to reach younger, hipper and less-affluent buyers without otherwise cheapening its core brand.
Two brand new versions of the car are being built at the BMW factory at Cowley in Oxfordshire - a standard Mini and a more sporty Mini Cooper model.
On that measure, MINI was the most successful brand in the BMW group, outstripping overall BMW sales that were up by 4% compared with July 2011.
FORBES: 'Win Small' Wins Big for MINI Among Potential Car Buyers
The new BMW Group iPod Out support mirrors the innovation strategy of BMW ConnectedDrive for the BMW brand and will be part of the new offer called MINI Connected for the MINI brand.
ENGADGET: BMW supports iPod Out, fills your 2011 auto with 2001's finest user interface
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