ON THE TABLE

January 23, 2013

 Fiat-Chrysler dealers. Editor-in-Chief's Note: "The Great Sergio" Marchionne let fly that the Alfa Romeo 4C sports car (price estimates hover around $75,000 in case you forgot) would be here at the end of this year. That probably means that one will roll off the boat at 11:58 p.m. next New Year's Eve, but hey, that's 2013 in Sergio-speak. And the resulting cheers could be heard around the land from Fiat-Chrysler dealers desperate for some sign that Alfa really is going to happen. Except let's not forget that Marchionne also said five minutes ago that Alfa would barely register in 2014, so what's exactly going on here? The reality is that Sergio is going to push for the high-priced 4C to arrive in this country before the calendar year ends so he can tell everyone he brought Alfa in earlier than expected, in order to polish his Golden Wop status even further in the eyes of his acolytes and sycophants. And to Fiat-Chrysler dealers, I have to ask, really? Sergio throws you a promise of a dog bone and you treat it like a prosciutto-encrusted T-bone? What's the matter with you guys? Just once I'd like to hear a Fiat-Chrysler dealer say, "Yeah, right, I'll believe it when I see it" and move on with their lives. Just once. - PMD

Daimler. Word is filtering out that CEO Dieter Zetsche expects to get his contract renewed and stay on at Daimler for another stint. Why?

 Mercedes-Benz. Editor-in-Chief's Note: The German automaker is teasing their Super Bowl efforts online. They will have Kate Upton pushing the new CLA on the game, but this video won't be on the game, thankfully. But here it is. Uh, these efforts at skewing younger and hipper by these car companies are starting to get painful. - PMD

 Rick Champagne. From the "Fools And Their Money" File comes word that this guy from Arizona paid $4.2 million (plus 10 percent commission, but who's counting?) at the Barrett-Jackson auction Saturday night for the original George Barris-designed Batmobile from the famed 60s TV show Batman. Repeat that to yourselves s-l-o-w-l-y. Yeah, that's what we thought too.

 Porsche. Its "The Code of the Curve" direct mail piece for the new Porsche Cayman is extraordinarily well done.

(BMW)
From the Press Release: The U.S. Men’s Bobsled Team raced its BMW two-man bobsled for the first time at the FIBT World Cup in Igls, Austria this past Saturday, Jan. 19. Developed in collaboration with the USA Bobsled & Skeleton Federation (USBSF), BMW applied its world-class design and engineering expertise to redesign the two-man sled in the hopes of helping Team USA chase its first Olympic gold medal in the event since 1936. The automaker says that it is "Applying processes similar to its vehicle development, namely the application of BMW EfficientDynamics. BMW has paired intelligent lightweight materials, such as carbon fiber, with optimized aerodynamics to design the new sled. With this approach, BMW was able to reconfigure the sled’s weight distribution to achieve an optimized balance of the regulations’ mandated sled weight. The result is a significantly lighter body shell with a low and centralized center of gravity." This is the second BMW two-man bobsled prototype developed for Team USA, and it will remain in development for the remainder of the 2012/2013 FIBT World Cup competition season. BMW will continue gathering data and feedback from the athletes, coaches and individual races to enhance the performance of the new sled in preparation for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. BMW of North America is the Official Mobility Partner of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" with hosts John McElroy, from Autoline Detroit, and Peter De Lorenzo, The Autoextremist, and guests this Thursday evening, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.

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