Some people go to great lengths to escape from journalists, but few divert private jets and escape through hotel kitchens.
Top executives from Fiat and General Motors were due in Zurich yesterday for a keenly awaited meeting as tensions mount between the two companies over whether Fiat can use an option to force GM to buy its struggling car unit.
Dozens of reporters gathered at the Hotel Renaissance, near GM Europe's headquarters, where the closed-door meeting was expected to take place.
There was a brief flurry of excitement when GM's chief executive, chief financial officer and the head of GM Europe walked in, greeted reporters, avoided questions and walked into the hotel restaurant.
But about an hour later, one of the waiters said the managers had left through a back door.
The sign on a notice board saying GM Europe would be meeting in one of the conference rooms had disappeared.
The Fiat contingent, which was due to arrive from Turin at around 2 p.m., failed to appear, and a source travelling with the pack said they had not landed in Zurich and were not even in Switzerland.
Italian media reported the meeting had been moved to Lake Constance, which borders Switzerland, Germany and Austria, to ensure they would not be found.
Fiat insists that it still has the right to sell the 90 per cent of Fiat Auto that it owns to GM.
But GM, which owns the other 10 per cent, says the option has been invalidated by an asset sale and a recapitalisation at Fiat Auto which is still struggling to revive slumping sales.
GM has not made money in Europe since 1999 and is in the midst of axing a fifth of its workforce in the region. The last thing it needs is to take on Fiat Auto's losses and debt.
But it remains to be seen whether Fiat would really be prepared to sell Fiat Auto, a move which would end more than a century of Italian car making history, and would probably run into opposition from the Italian government and trade unions.
A year-long truce which had prevented either side from taking legal action against each other over the put option ends today.
While Fiat said it would not be issuing a statement on the meeting, several financial analysts suggested some form of deal was the likeliest outcome. "It's unclear exactly what it will be, but people are betting on a cash deal," one analyst said.
Italian newspapers said Fiat could accept a payment - estimated mostly at between €350 million and €750 million - from GM in return for agreeing to drop the option.