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Police smash sinking BMW window with rock to save woman trapped inside

Two quick-thinking police officers in New Zealand saved a woman's life after her BMW somehow ended up in the the ocean on Tuesday afternoon. Witnesses told Stuff.co.nz the woman drove off of a rock wall surrounding a parking lot at Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, and into the ocean. Her BMW immediately began filling with sea water. Bystanders called police and made their own attempts to save the woman. Officers Paul Watts and Simon Russell also tried to open her car doors and smash the windows with a baton. Their failed efforts wasted precious time. The woman soon had to crawl toward the back window, the last part of her car not completely submerged in water. Officer Watts smashed the window with a rock and they were finally able to pull her to safety. Watts told The New Zealand Herald the woman was moments away from drowning. Seconds after extracting her the car sank completely into the ocean. "It was pretty close, probably 30 or 40 seconds after we managed to get the female out of the car, the car was already slipping further into the water," Watts told the Herald. Police are still investigating what caused the accident. The woman was in shock and suffered cuts and bruises. She is in stable condition at a local hospital. Related Video: News Source: Stuff.co.nz, The New Zealand Herald BMW Videos

Audi leading rival BMW in worldwide luxury sales race

If you thought competition among the German luxury automakers was hot before, it looks like things are just getting started. For the first two months of the year, Audi has sold more cars than BMW worldwide by just 383 cars.
Audi claims to have sold 242,400 vehicles through February, up 9.3 percent from last year, compared to 242,017 units from BMW, up 8.9 percent, in the same period. While the advantage is tiny, its implications could be huge because Bimmer has been the leader in the premium car segment for the last nine consecutive years. Mercedes-Benz lags behind them somewhat at 229,630 vehicles through February. According to Bloomberg, at this time last year Audi had sold 429 fewer cars than BMW.
The growth is all part of Volkswagen Group's goal to become the world's largest automaker. It currently ranks in second when its heavy truck businesses are considered. The German automotive giant also wants to be the world's leading premium carmaker. "Competition in the premium segment is more intense than ever," said Audi CEO Rupert Stadler to Bloomberg.

Forget about greenlighting it, BMW is already testing the M2

One week ago, we reported, with some skepticism, that BMW had greenlit a car we've been waiting for since the 1 Series M Coupe was discontinued - the M2. Now, we have the first images of that new hotshot underoing testing in Germany.
What's our reasoning here? After all, this just looks like an M235i. Well, that camo is disguising swollen fenders designed to conceal wider tires. Now, these aren't production changes, and it's very likely that the eventual M2's fenders will look quite a bit different. According to our spy, the front fenders have been borrowed from the M235i Racing, while the rears are from an unknown source.
Our spies are also quick to point out a few other high-performance items on this mule. The cross-drilled brakes and blue M calipers are one such item, although we aren't sure how much they differ from the optional stoppers on the production M235i. The black wheels are borrowed from the M3 and M4, and are shod in what look like a sticky set of Michelin tires.