Italian Luca de Meo has turned around the troubled French company Renault by 180 degrees in his five years at the helm. He reviewed the twenty-year strategic alliance with Nissan, bet on hybrid engines, and initiated the transition to electric vehicles. According to Le Figaro, de Meo will replace Kering’s head François-Henri Pinault, whose family has controlled the heavily indebted premium conglomerate for 20 years.
Kering declined to comment on the Le Figaro report. "Luca de Meo expressed his decision to resign in order to take on new challenges outside the automotive sector," said Renault in a statement. De Meo will leave the company in mid-July.
De Meo came to Renault from Volkswagen in 2020, when the French company reported record losses after a sales collapse due to the pandemic. In recent years, he launched a massive cost-cutting initiative, sharply reducing staff and production capacity worldwide. This has made Renault a smaller but more agile company.
Source: Reuters
