It’s official – former Seat boss Luca de Meo has just assumed the role of CEO for Renault, just over a month since rumours first hit the streets. According to AutoExpress, the 52-year old Italian will take up office on July 1, 2020. The current interim CEO is Clotilde Delbos, whose official role will be to assist de Meo as deputy starting July.
Chairman of the board of directors at Renault, Jean-Dominique Senard said: “I am delighted with this new governance, which marks a decisive step for the Group and for the Alliance. Luca de Meo is a great strategist and visionary of a rapidly changing automotive world. His expertise but also his passion for cars make him a real asset for the Group.”
But apparently the Group has bigger aspirations for the Italian. According to a previous report by Reuters, which cited several anonymous sources, de Meo will helm Renault for two years before taking over Alliance responsibilities, overseeing Nissan and Mitsubishi. However, Renault and Seat both declined to comment on the matter.
Luca de Meo’s appointment marks the first real sign of progress from Renault since Carlos Ghosn was ousted, and it’s understood that the Italian resigned from Seat at his own request. This was confirmed by the Spanish automaker. He first joined Seat in November 2015 following a six-year stint with Volkswagen as marketing director, although he is said to remain as a member of the VW Group until further notice.
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Seat’s vice president for finance, Carsten Isensee, will take on the role as CEO for the time being. Luca de Meo has successfully orchestrated a turnaround for Seat by launching the brand into the SUV market, starting with the Ateca, followed by the Arona, and the new seven-seat Tarraco. He also called for Cupra to be its own standalone brand. Think he’s the right man for the job?
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Look at this French company. Diaorg tak malu pun to get an Italian or even a Lebanese to run their operations and manage the company as long they can perform. Its not like Italians know how to make good everyday cars, and neither does Lebanon has any car manufacturing yet CEOs from these 2 countries have step up and performed.
I don’t know why some are claiming a local company should be malu to get a foreign CEO when even a giant like Renault does it. All it matters are results and we can see the results of hiring based on merits, not connections to some Advisor or others.
SEAT never came to mahresia