Incentives are not strategy, they are tactics. Defensive measures.

As an individual, not as the boss of a company, I am very interested in motor racing.

China will be the answer to Japan's problems.

Incentives are not strategy, they are tactics. Defensive measures.

Design is important, it's an important dimension in the car. It's not the only one.

Any job very well done that has been carried out by a person who is fully dedicated is always a source of inspiration.

As the CEO, I have to take care of the short term, mid term and the long term.

At the age of 20 I bought a used Fiat 127. This was the only one I could afford!

Being in a multicultural environment in childhood is going to give you intuition, reflexes and instincts. You may acquire basic responsiveness later on, but it's never going to be as spontaneous as when you have been bathing in this environment during childhood.

Business is tough; you need tough guys.

Cars have a large engine in the front and you have a gearbox, which is cumbersome. Electric cars don't have this problem. The motor is much smaller, the battery is below you. This will allow you to play with different shapes.

Commitment. This is my favorite word because in some way, people who are committed are always much more interesting and much more reliable, and much more, I would say, deep than people who are not.

Don't believe what I say. Believe what I do.

Electric cars are not going to take the market by storm, but it's going to be a gradual improvement.

Employees are your most valuable assets. They are the heart and guts of a company. This doesn't mean that from time to time, you aren't going to do what is good for the company.

Every single time you make a merger, somebody is losing his identity. And saying something different is just rubbish.

Good is somebody who delivered and allowed the company to overcome obstacles, without leaving a profound impact on its culture. Great is somebody who leads his company to achievements and performance and value that nobody was expecting it had.

I always loved cars. I don't know why, I can't explain it to you. It has always been with me.

I approve designs not because I think I am more gifted or somebody who can see ahead three or four years from now, but just to make sure that the design is a logical, rational decision, taken after analyzing pros and cons.

I don't believe in hostile moves. I don't believe they carry any value.

I have my family, my children - I have a lot of outside activities.

I love not to be busy in a certain way.

I mean, when you're a pioneer and you are at the forefront of an offensive, you're going to be the most optimistic person.

I think that the best training a top manager can be engaged in is management by example.

I think the new generation is much more demanding about respect for the environment than we have ever imagined.

I would say a good leader brings results. A great leader writes a new story, it's different. Obviously a new story has to incorporate a lot of results. But a story is a chapter in the life of a company that people want to write and want to remember.

I'm the C.E.O., nominated by the shareholders. If they're not happy, I have to take the consequences.

If guys try to make a bigger company for the sake of size, they don't create value in most cases.

If you have not been a villain at a certain point in time, you will never be a hero. And the day you are a hero, you may become a villain the next day.

In most companies people make a specific contribution to the company in their function. But it is not expressed in terms of profit, only in terms of performing their function better.

It would be easier to make money in other sectors, but since I was a kid, I liked cars.

More and more, in any company, managers are dealing with different cultures. Companies are going global, but the teams are being divided and scattered all over the planet.

People will always challenge you on an idea as long as it has not been concretized by somebody else.

Profit is the most global aspect of a business, and it is cross-functional.

Regulations about environments are going to get tougher and tougher.

Synergies are not only about cost reduction. Synergies can be access to markets, exchange of products, avoiding overlaps, exchange of best practices.

The Japanese people are usually very prudent, even when they are convinced change is necessary.

The most interesting information I can have about a competitor is the cost.

The role of leadership is to transform the complex situation into small pieces and prioritize them.

The time is right for electric cars - in fact the time is critical.

There are always lessons that can be learned from another manufacturer. You can learn from their successes and from their mistakes also. But you cannot replicate; you can only learn.

To face deflation, you have to have people accepting it and not reacting to it.

When I come to a design decision, people know that is that.

When a company is facing a problem, it always takes a stance and takes a decision, but at the same time it wants to make sure of what it can learn from it, what enhancements it can make.

When the CEO makes a decision, people don't come back on it.

When you're CEO, you have to have two conditions: first, shareholders need to trust you and want you to head your company. The second is that you need to feel the motivation to do the job. So, as long as both are reunited, you continue to do the job.

You don't build your character by doing what everybody else is doing.

You don't implement change easily in Japan unless you explain very clearly why you need to do this change, how you're going to do this change and what's going to be the outcome of this change. If you offset or you forget to explain one of these three steps you're not going to do it.

You go to a plant not only to pat the people on the back, but to tell them about the opportunities they have to do a better job. Quality is one of the opportunities they have to do a better job.