Elon Musk got the red-carpet treatment when the Tesla CEO visited France in mid-May.
A Model X drove Musk right up to the Elysée Palace for a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron, who tried talking the CEO into setting up shop in the country.
Musk was then whisked away to the Palace of Versailles, where he was the star guest among 200 business leaders invited to discuss new investments.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire snapped a selfie with the billionaire and posted it on LinkedIn with the hashtag #ChooseFrance.This seems to have irked Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Stellantis, which owns the Peugeot and Citroen French brands.
The Portuguese national has had a chillier relationship with Le Maire, clashing with him over plans to expand production in lower-cost countries.
Tavares's warnings about the influx of cheap Chinese cars, and concerns about Tesla rival BYD also being warmly welcomed as it mulls European factories, apparently have fallen on deaf ears.