There's no such thing as bad publicity, as BMW intends to prove. After a variety of recent bomb scares, man-made catastrophes, and natural disasters worldwide, a cleverly oblivious test driver left an X3 prototype parked and running in front of the American Museum of Natural History...so he could go for a walk in the park, according to the New York Daily News.
The end result is just what one would expect: the bomb squad showing up Hurt Locker-style, busting in through the rear window, and making sure the swirly-wrapped SUV (sorry, SAV) was no longer a threat. Oh, and now everyone's talking about BMW. Word of mouth is the best marketing, after all.
Driver Martin Birkmann explained, "It's a misunderstanding...I was test-driving it." Clearly you were NOT, sir; bomb squads don't show up to defuse cars when people are driving them...nor are tickets for idling issued.
The second-generation X3 debuts later this year. Thankfully, Mr. Birkmann didn't have any scores to settle with museums and the prototype was not deemed a threat. Whether or not it will be a threat to the X5's or X1's sales, however, is yet to be determined.
By Phil Alex
Via: NY Daily News