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BMW CEO faints on stage at Frankfurt press conference

Newly minted BMW AG CEO Harald Kruger has had a rough start to his first Frankfurt Motor Show in that position. Kruger fainted about five minutes into the BMW press conference. A pair of assistants helped the executive to his feet and off-stage, and, understandably, the presser was cancelled. A report in Financial Times indicates that Kruger was not feeling well leading up to his appearance at the show, and that the fainting spell was a result of "a moment of dizziness." Kruger was taken to an area hospital where he is said to be recovering from the incident, and in stable condition. The life of the top dog at a major automaker has got to be stress-filled, sleep-deprived, and hard to handle under normal circumstances, let alone before a major exhibition like Frankfurt. We wish Kruger a speedy recovery getting back to it. And we're certain that he'll face a busy schedule, once again, when he's back on his feet. The CEO replaced Norbert Reithhofer in May of this year, and now oversees a BMW with as big a model lineup as the brand has known, including the recently launched new 7 Series. Here in Frankfurt, BMW is also featuring the new-for-2016 X1 small crossover, while the Mini brand has unwrapped the revised Clubman. News Source: Financial TimesImage Credit: AP Frankfurt Motor Show BMW Frankfurt 2015

Feds greenlight BMW X5 diesel sales for 2016 [UPDATE]

Update: The EPA also confirmed that the 2016 X5 diesel passed the tests in a statement: "EPA and the California Air Resources Board certified BMW's 2016 diesel X5. EPA is performing additional screening when it conducts confirmatory emissions tests before issuing a certificate. Our screening tests found no evidence of a defeat device in the 2016 BMW X5, concluding our certification review." The 2016 BMW X5 xDrive35d is the latest diesel model to pass rigorous emissions tests by the Environmental Protection Agency and prove that it doesn't circumvent regulations with a defeat device. The luxury SUV can now go on sale to customers, and BMW spokesman Hector Arellano-Belloc confirms to Autoblog the first of them should arrive at dealers around late January. The automaker previously delayed production of the new model at the Spartanburg plant until the EPA completed certification. Following Volkswagen's emissions cheating, the EPA, California Air Resources Board, and Environment Canada began stricter testing for diesel vehicles to ensure that they met regulations. The first models to get the additional scrutiny were the 2016 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon with the Duramax engine, and they passed with no problems. According to Reuters, the X5 diesel was the only other non-VW from the 2016 model year that the agencies needed to certify with this more rigorous evaluation. The 2016 X5 xDrive 35d starts at $58,695 after the $995 destination charge. A 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine sends 255 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque through an eight-speed automatic to the all-wheel drive system. BMW claims that the vehicle can reach 60 miles per hour in 6.5 seconds, and the 2015 model carries an EPA fuel economy rating of 24 miles per gallon city, 31 mpg highway, and 27 mpg combined. Related Video:

BMW's DTM champ swaps rides with Mini's Dakar winner

BMW may not race in F1 any longer, and it doesn't compete with Audi and Porsche in the LMP1 class at Le Mans. It even shut down Mini's short-lived effort on the World Rally Championship. But that doesn't mean it doesn't race at all. In fact it's the current reigning champion both in DTM and at Dakar. So to highlight its varied motorsport programs, the German automaker had two of its top drivers swap rides. German driver Martin Tomczyk, who won the DTM title in 2011 and now drives for BMW, took to Nasser Al-Attiyah's Mini All4Racing Countryman on the sand dunes of Dubai. Meanwhile the Qatari driver, who has won the Dakar Rally two times now, took to the wheel of Tomczyk's BMW M4 DTM around Oschersleben in Germany. They even repeated the game of musical chairs at Hockenheim over the weekend. If anything, the promo clip shot by Red Bull just goes to show how different the varied racing machinery can be, and the challenges posed to racing drivers switching between disciplines. But lessons aside, it's a cool clip, so check it out above. Two champions swap cockpits: Martin Tomczyk drives the MINI ALL4 Racing, Nasser Al-Attiyah the BMW M4 DTM. Munich (DE), 1st May 2015. From asphalt to sand and back again: BMW DTM driver Martin Tomczyk (DE) and MINI ALL4 Racing ace Nasser Al-Attiyah (QA) both entered unfamiliar territory and took each other's cars for a test drive. As part of a video shoot for BMW Motorsport Premium Partner Red Bull in Dubai (AE), Tomczyk, a proven master of his trade on asphalt as the 2011 DTM Champion, took the wheel of the MINI ALL4 Racing, with which X-raid has won the famous Rally Dakar the last four years. During DTM testing in Oschersleben (DE), Al-Attiyah was given the opportunity to drive Tomczyk's BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM. Two wins at the Rally Dakar are just some of the successes the rally driver from Qatar has had to date. He followed up his first victory in 2011 by winning in the MINI ALL4 Racing in January 2015. "Driving the MINI ALL4 Racing through the sand and over the dunes in Dubai was a fascinating experience and was so much fun," said Tomczyk. "The car has an incredible amount of torwue – and the test in the dunes was an amazing adrenalin rush even for an experienced race driver such as myself. It's totally different to driving on a circuit.