how can a car catch fire on the parking lot?

[LooneyTunes]

SpeedBash said:

Berlin's burning cars a hot topic in forthcoming elections??

My first thought too. One magazine I subscribe to mentioned how the vehicles were typically being ignited (which I'll not post for obvious reasons) but a slight variation on this method would probably work well on a convertible.

[amzamz]

... thank you all for the different stories and guesses! This is very helpful... not for the BMW in question, that one is a write-off! ...I got another one the same day! But I was wondering if I should park it there again?! Can I park there with an even flashier car? Of course I'd hate to lose another car!!!

For me, the "electrics" fire story makes sense, because the BMW had 250,000km on the clock, and was 11 years old. It sometimes had electric hickups, like opening the lock of the booth while driving, like windows not always lowering that half-inch when opening the convertible roof, like mirrors not always tilting when backing up, like bad engine control when switching engine off and on again... when idling, you could press the gas, and the revs went lower! I suspected a slow death, not such a spectacular one !

Of course, I am aware of the Berlin scenes! However, my location is more countryside and doesn't have such a record of riots, or torching cars... and as I mentioned, it happened in the backyard of a company (gated).

[The Moose]

Seeing that the fire appears to have started and spread from the middle of the vehicle, and chance that some gearbox oil somehow found it's way onto the exhaust?

I don't know them particularly well so they might be far apart, but a possibility??