Fiat SpA's (F.MI) chief executive Thursday dismissed as a "dream" a report about Volkswagen AG's (VOW.XE) apparent interest in Ferrari, the luxury sports car brand owned by the Italian group.
In its November issue, German monthly magazine Manager Magazin wrote of Volkswagen's possible interest in Ferrari, which competes with Volkswagen's Lamborghini brand.
Citing "(Ferdinand) Piech watchers", the magazine said the real interest of Volkswagen's supervisory board chairman and former chief executive was Ferrari rather than Fiat's Alfa Romeo or Ducati, an Italian premium motorcycle maker.
The magazine's report was picked up by other news outlets, including some in Italy.
Piech has spoken of his willingness to buy Alfa Romeo, a struggling sports car brand within the Fiat group.
Speaking to reporters at an event in Turin Thursday, Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne was as dismissive of the magazine's report on Ferrari as he was about Piech's earlier comments about Alfa Romeo.
"I think that they described it as a dream. It's a nice dream," he told reporters on the sidelines of an event at a university in Turin.
His comments were confirmed by a Fiat spokesman.
Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn, who was also present at the event, also used the same word in reference to the German car maker's interest in Alfa Romeo.
"Alfa Romeo is only a dream. They make marvellous cars and there is nothing else to say," he was quoted as saying by ANSA, a domestic news agency.
Winterkorn and Marchionne were attending Giorgetto Giugiaro's acceptance of an honorary degree at the Politecnico university in this northwestern industrial city where Fiat is based.
Giugiaro sold 90.1% of his car design company, Italdesign-Giugiaro SpA, to Volkswagen in May.
Volkswagen's purchase of Italdesign-Giugiaro is part of the German automaker's aim of dethroning Japanese auto behemoth Toyota Motor (7203.TO) as the world's largest auto maker by 2018.
