Oh, Dude, Where's My Car?

The Detroit News: Posh BMW stolen outside Detroit hotel

Two thieves drove off with a BMW 7 Series car brought to the city for the North American International Auto Show Wednesday night when a handler left the pricey auto alone briefly.

It was stolen about 7:15 p.m. on Michigan Avenue near Washington Boulevard outside the Westin Book Cadillac hotel, Detroit Police Sgt. Eren Stephens said.

The 2011 BMW 7 Series car sells for more than $90,000, according to BMW's website.

The handler is toast. How it didn't occur to him that he's in downtown Detroit. Fer crying out loud you don't leave a used banged-up Chevy Cobalt running unwatched in Detorit, much less a top-notch BMW luxury car.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the value is not $90 grand, it is $140,000. I sure hope they've got stupidity insurance on the vehicle.

Let's put this in perspective, at $140,000 that's more than the value of my suburb-of-Detroit house at the moment thanks to the real estate crash. I also will note that my house is not movable property left unattended with the motor running.

The following juxtaposed facts raised in the article add an extra touch of irony to the situation:

We’re still looking for the vehicle,” Detroit Police spokeswoman Sgt. Eren Stephens said today.

and

The car is equipped with BMW Assist, which locates stolen cars.

Go figure.

On the upside, this is certainly publicity for BMW during the Detroit autoshow and it certainly shows that the Series 7 really can zoom off and make a clean getaway.

For the conspiracy-theoried types among you, this theft might be the opening volley in the UAW's new push to Unionize Foreign-Owned autoworkers -

"Psst, Hey, BMW, Unionize or the car gets it".

Quite unlikely but weirder stuff has happended in Detroit.