Renault Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Luca de Meo is leaving the French carmaker to pursue a role outside the auto industry, the company said on Sunday
“Luca de Meo has expressed his decision to step down to take on new challenges outside the automotive sector,” Renault said in a statement.
De Meo will leave Renault in mid-July, Renault added. The French state holds a 15% stake in the company.
If confirmed, de Meo moves to Kering, which has lately failed to convince stock market investors of its plans to turn around its Gucci label, would mark a dramatic change at the group. Pinault would remain Kering’s chairman.
The development is after a newspaper, Le Figaro, reported he would become the new chief executive of Gucci-owner Kering De Meo turned around the troubled French automaker in his five years at the helm, overhauling its two-decade-long strategic alliance with Nissan and doubling down on hybrid motors while shifting towards electric vehicles.
Reuters said the Italian will replace Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault, whose family controls the heavily indebted luxury conglomerate and who has been leading it for 20 years, Le Figaro reported.
Kering declined to comment on Le Figaro’s report.
Two graphs showing Kering’s and Renault’s share price performance since June 2023.
Speculation about the leadership of the group, which also owns the Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga labels, accelerated last week after French media reported Pinault was poised to give up the CEO role.
A person familiar with the thinking of Pinault told Reuters on Friday he was actively working on his succession, which includes splitting up the two roles to hire a new CEO.
Kering shares have lost more than 60% of their value in the last two years, marked by a string of profit warnings and designer changes at Gucci, a former cash cow for the company and still its most important brand by sales and profits.
De Meo’s unexpected departure marks the second top-level exit from a European carmaker in six months, after Carlos Tavares resigned from Stellantis, at a time the sector in Europe is reeling from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and fierce competition from Chinese rivals.
De Meo joined Renault from Volkswagen in 2020, a year when the French carmaker reported record losses after a pandemic-induced hit to sales.
In the years since, De Meo launched wide-ranging cost cuts that sharply reduced headcount and production capacity worldwide and turned the firm into a smaller but nimbler company. He also oversaw a vast reshaping of Renault’s decades-old, but often difficult, relationship with Japan’s Nissan.
Separately, the Nikkei newspaper cited Nissan boss Ivan Espinosa as saying it was considering selling some of its Renault stake.
“There has been no change in the longstanding cooperative relationship between Nissan and Renault,” Nissan said in a statement, adding no “definitive decisions” had been made on a share sale.
-Advertisement-
Grab our latest Magazine, "Hon. Chief C.O.C Akaolisa gets justice". Get your order fast and stress free.
For more details about Newswire Law&Events Magazine, kindly reach out to us on 08039218044, 09070309355. Email: newswiremagazine@yahoo.co.uk. You will be glad you did
