Of course we didn’t, or at least I didn’t, not to the smallest, remotest degree. I’ve asked him the odd question at press conferences, done a ‘round table’ meeting with him and a few other journos, but only once have I had a direct conversation with him. It was at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track which was I was visiting for a test drive. Marchionne turned up unannounced but the timing was such that I’d just been chatting with another journalist about a rumour suggesting Ferrari might be considering building a new Dino. It was no more than that, just a suggestion borne on a whiff of gossip. But there’s rarely smoke without some kind of fire in this business so, on the something for nothing basis and for once feeling like an almost proper journalist I just walked up to him, introduced myself and asked if a new Dino was a question of if or when? He look straight at me and simply said, ‘when’, much to the visible discomfort of the PR man at his side.
It’s just not the kind of answer you get from media-trained industry execs these days. The best will tease you with a Francis Urquhart-grade ‘you might think that, but I couldn’t possibly comment’ kind of response, those in the middle will say either ‘this is not what we’re here to talk about’ or dangle something and then take it away: ‘we are talking about it, but then we talk about all sorts of things, most of which never see production’. The worst just lie. You never got any obsfuscation with Marchionne, which is why we thought we knew him.