Gildo Pastor Pallanca / VENTURI – between fascination and fear

At a trade fair, I met the purchasing manager of the French Post Office, Mr. Sylvain Fresnault. He was interested in our DXP vehicles. Mr. Fresnault was not only technically very interested, he also understood battery production, electronics and mechanics in depth. So we started to discuss the technical details of the DXP in more and more detail. Mr. Fresnault was enthusiastic and invited me to Paris. There he told me that he wanted exactly my product, but that he had the problem that, according to the instructions of his boss and the President of France, he could not buy from a non-French company. He could place development orders, but that's all. That's why he had come up with a plan. I should please pick up the phone when a Mr Pallanca called. Somewhat astonished by this announcement, I drove back to Freienstein and immersed myself in my work. A little later the phone rang and a Gildo Pastor-Pallanca was on the line. We had a mutual acquaintance and a common passion: electric vehicles. He was the CEO of the company VENTURI and wanted to visit me to discuss my DXP project. No sooner said than done - he turned up at our house. A very likeable man with a curly head appeared, dressed in a denim jacket and worn and slightly torn jeans. I showed him my products in detail. He was very enthusiastic. I knew that the French post office wanted my product to be produced in France. But he didn't want it under the name VENTURI, they specialised in cars. He would buy an old French motorbike company and revive it. I absolutely had to visit him at his place of work. His development company, with which he manufactures the VENTURI vehicles, is based in Monaco. Monaco, a development company?
How does something like that come about? His family owned a few buildings, so it was a good opportunity. I didn't miss the chance and travelled to Monaco by car a little later. I arrived in the evening and Gildo wanted to meet me in a bar. It was a fantastic building with a view over the Mediterranean. This building, for example, belonged to his family. The owner had rented the location. Who was Gildo? I wanted to know more about him and he told me how his grandfather had come to Monaco as a craftsman, renovated some buildings and bought one or two on the side. And how many buildings exactly? He didn't know exactly, but they were the biggest landowners in Monaco. That had to be enough. We had a lot to do the next day and Gildo said goodbye. When I showed up at his VENTURI headquarters the next day, he drove up in a white Citroën C5 station wagon. He had just driven his children to school. He sees them too rarely. That was their daily ritual. He values the C5 above all else. An ideal vehicle for him, modest in consumption and yet very comfortable.
We went into his main building, the Gildo Pastor Centre. Lots of marble, golden lamps, taps and fittings. That was not his name - it was the grandfather's name. And yes, he would have had somewhat opulent taste and decorated the building accordingly. We went into the meeting room. A butler, dressed in tails, brought freshly squeezed orange juice, coffee and croissants. Gildo began to tell me his plan for the licensed production of the DXP vehicles. He wanted to build my vehicles at a company in the south of France which was being rebuilt by production professionals. The name would have to be French - which was fine with me - and the design would also have to be adapted a little. The financing was secured, he already had his plans for the service network, and I was to make sure that the technology ran properly. As a guest, I and my team are always welcome. But now he had a few surprises for me. We went to the secret development centre and there I met the designer and the team of VENTURI. When Gildo was with me, I had shown him the DXR, the snow crawler we had developed on the basis of the DXP. Gildo had picked up the thread: His team showed me plans and design sketches of a caterpillar with which he would travel to the North Pole electrically powered. He wanted to be the first! The presentation continued. He showed the vehicle with which he drove the introductory lap together with the Prince of Monaco before the Formula One race in Monaco. He also wanted to provide the electrically powered pace car. Another breathtaking construction. They are currently developing the fastest electric vehicle ever built. The test will take place on the Salt Lake in Utah and he is aiming for around 600 km/h. He also wants to enter Formula E with VENTURI, where they will build drive systems for at least one of the teams.
He said I would be happy to help him realise the ideas and become part of his team. I was fascinated by the ambitious goals Gildo had set for himself. Our next meeting would be in a few months when his electric car production would open. He was converting some cars into electric cars for Citroën and for the French postal service. He would make the first generation, the second generation, and a few years later Citroën would make them themselves. The factory would then be empty and suitable for DXP production.

A little later, Maya and I drove to the announced opening. We had already arranged to meet in the afternoon and Gildo had just arrived in his private plane. He likes to fly himself, he says, because it's efficient. He used to fly helicopters, but his Robin R 22 lost a blade in the air and crashed. "Excuse me? An R22 doesn't lose a rotor blade in the air just like that...!" Yes, the cause could never have been clearly established. His mechanic, who was responsible for the maintenance, had died with it and the cause was unexplained. Anyway, since then he prefers to fly fixed-wing aircraft. Something like that couldn't happen there.
That was also a way of solving problems. I remained thoughtful. Before the whole opening, Gildo asked Maya and me into his dressing rooms where he was being prepared for the TV appearance. He hated that and was also slightly nervous, but that was part of his job. Should I be part of Gildo's close team in the future? Was he already holding a place for me? And if I couldn't fulfil a goal straight away, would his butler still serve me freshly squeezed orange juice afterwards? The opening was tremendous. Several celebrities showed up to be photographed with Gildo. Among others, the purchasing manager of the French Post, the sales manager of Citroën and other celebrities from the automobile industry. At the end of the event, Gildo had another surprise in store for me: There was a monastery nearby and the monks sang their Victorian chants once a week. Thanks to his good connections, Gildo was able to take a few guests into the monastery's church. Among them were Maya and me.
Next up were the contract negotiations. Gildo delegated this to his contract manager and I had my contract manager check the contracts. Unfortunately, several loopholes appeared, which from our point of view had been opened up so that after the transfer of knowledge of the whole DXP technology, it would have been very easy for us to be cheated out of our licence payment. Paris also appeared as a court in the draft contract - not really an advantage for us. After a few attempts to make the contract fair for both sides, Gildo broke off the negotiations with a personal letter. I called him immediately. I understood that he broke off the negotiations, which had become difficult, but I also didn't want to sign a contract that allowed him, even in the beginning, to take away all my knowledge without anything in return. We remained friends but wanted to pursue our developments separately. I was welcome to visit him at any time and I could also call him at any time.
I was comfortable with the dissolution. All the possibilities Gildo would have opened for me would have been fantastic. But I would also have put myself in a great dependency. The thought was uncomfortable for me.
At the next Paris Motor Show, Gildo showed his new projects, which I was allowed to see in advance. He also presented the purchase of his new motorbike company VOXAN. He showed a first prototype for a delivery vehicle - obviously a competitive product to my DXP. Well then: I love a sporty showdown and had obviously found a very strong opponent there.
A short time later, unfortunately, the story ended very tragically for Gildo. He suffered a stroke and was paralysed on one side. A card I wrote him also went unanswered. His mother visited him every day in the hospital. Gildo had temporarily lost his zest for life. One day - shortly after the daily visit - an attempt was made on his mother's life. She and her long-time driver and buttler were murdered. Several possible perpetrators came into question. Tragically, it turned out that Gildo's brother-in-law - his sister's husband - had ordered the assassination. His mother had still been the owner of all the properties at the time. She ran her business with an iron hand and was against any waste of resources and money. Both Gildo's sister and he received their monthly severance pay in the mid-six figures. That had to be enough for all their activities. This also explained to me why Gildo was so passionate about alternative vehicle propulsion. This had obviously also been in his mother's mind.
Gildo recovered to some extent, although he was no longer the same as before. He also cut back on his activities in the field of electric vehicles. With his company VENTURI, he still builds drive systems for Formula E. Had we been friends? The circumstances in this life were somewhat difficult for both of us. Maybe we could have been friends in another life.

I learned from it:

• Choosing between fascination and fear is challenging.
• Not every opportunity that comes along is good for me.
• No matter how good the offer - the contract must reflect the same, otherwise it becomes difficult.