Luca De Meo proclaimed nothing less than a revolution last November. The CEO of the French car manufacturer Renault announced at a capital market day that he would split the group into several individual parts after the drama surrounding long-time boss Carlos Ghosn, the near bankruptcy in the corona pandemic and the difficult farewell to his second most important sales market, Russia. A more agile structure and the fresh money needed for investments from new partners should help to get back on the road to success. In 2030, Renault intends to only sell electric models in Europe, its most important market by far.
Tim Kanning
Correspondent for business and politics in Japan based in Tokyo.
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But almost nine months later, the revolution has only slowly picked up speed. De Meo has proven his skills as a renovator and stabilized Renault financially. On Thursday, he presented the best half-year figures in the company’s history: sales climbed by more than 27 percent to 26.8 billion euros, the operating return on sales increased by 3 points to 7.6 percent and after the loss in the first half of 2022, Renault is now generating profits 2.1 billion euros net profit.