14:00pm
“You always ask me this question”, smiles Linda Jackson as I check in for the umpteenth time on whether or not Peugeot’s Le Mans and motorsport involvement will ever translate to the road-car side of things. “I always would love to be able to reproduce a 205 GTi or whatever it may be,” says the Peugeot CEO. “My focus is on electric vehicles and making sure I launch those. But who knows? One of these days, you’ll get a good answer.”
14:30pm
A meeting with just-departed Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato is delayed while he deals with a surprise visit from Stellantis chairman John Elkann. Elkann (also chairman of Ferrari) is rarely seen at industry events. Indeed, the last time I saw him in person was at the unveiling of the Alfa Romeo Giulia back in 2015.
15:10pm
It’s rare to get near a car company executive for at least their first 100 days in their tenure, so it felt a coup to grab new Maserati and Alfa Romeo CEO Santo Ficili for a chat on his second working day in the job. Unlike ex-plimsoll executive Davide Grasso, whom Tavares relieved of his duties last week, Ficili is clearly a car lover and a Maserati nut, telling me twice that he’s “in love with the brand”. He says he’s not alone in that and that “people power” will help the brand “build again”. As my colleague Steve Cropley always says, great people make great cars, and on first impressions, Maserati seems to be in safe hands.
15:30pm
Many stands are in lockdown, and it’s all due to Emmanuel Macron’s inability to keep to schedule. The presence of the French president is felt everywhere at the show, not necessarily where he is but where he’s going to be, with large swathes of the venue cordoned off at short notice. Your correspondent never got near enough to ask the Renault shareholder what he thought of the new 4.
