At Mr. Zarella's direction, G.M. executives had begun talking with Fiat and Alfa executives about which models might be imported and through which showrooms they might be sold.
In July four furniture stores opened, including Danish and European Antiques at 537; Mobelex Furniture Designs and L'Annexe, which share showroom space at 515 and offer contemporary office furniture; and Sherry's House Dressing across the street, where the owner, Sherry Rizzi, sells customized, hand-painted furniture.
It also featured a base in which the showroom windows were tripled in height and topped by 12 stories with glass-wrapped corners, creating an impression that the tower appeared physically and visually light as if floating in mid-air.
Caterina Tognon owns a studio glass gallery bearing her name, which has showrooms in Bergamo and Venice.
That complex and several other upscale projects feature design packages by the Brazilian furniture manufacturer Artefacto, which maintains showrooms in two high-end malls here.
Quest's most immediate challenge comes from the Sienna, which reached showrooms in March and is selling faster than Toyota had expected.
Browne, fifty, is the president of a salvage operation called Olde Good Things, which has showrooms in Chelsea, Chicago, Los Angeles, Florida, and Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Unlike its rivals, the Ampera, which hits showrooms in May, combines a lithium-ion battery (which can be recharged from a domestic socket in six hours), a small petrol engine and two separate electric motors.
But some experts say Mercedes-Benz Manhattan, which has showrooms at 536 West 41st Street and Park Avenue at 56th Street, stumbled across an invisible line that divides conspicuous consumption from dangerous overindulgence.
