REUTERS
Annette Winkler at the presentation of the new Smart ForTwo in July 2014
Staying away from the car industry for a long time – that’s probably not the business of former Smart boss Annette Winkler. At the end of September 2018 she joined the Leadership of Daimler’s small car brand to her successor Katrin Adt, since 2019 she sits on the Supervisory Board of Mercedes-Benz South Africa. She has been the inspector of industrial gases specialist Air Liquide since 2014.
Now the 59-year-old has collected another, high-ranking and currently rather delicate checkpoint: Winkler is to join the supervisory board of the French automaker Renault Show stock market chart move in, as it was called on Wednesday. Winkler’s free time should hardly run without friction. Because the supervisory board has because of the processes around the former Renault boss Carlos Ghosn just completely busy hands.
This is reflected, for example, in the new appointments of the highest control body. On June 12, the Renault Supervisory Board will recommend to the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting to confirm Winkler’s nomination as Independent Controller for the Board, Renault said. The former contractor and doctor of economics Winkler will replace the lawyer Cherie Blair, the wife of former English Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Renault will benefit from “the expertise and international experience of a recognized leader in the automotive industry,” said Renaults Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard on the appointment of Winkler. Winkler knows the car manufacturer and French sensibilities probably quite well: Finally, Daimler developed the latest generation Smart together with Renault. In addition, the Smart is not assembled in Germany, but in the French city of Hambach. In the future, however, the electric smart will roll out of Chinese factories – from the new smart cooperation partner Geely,
Stressless should not be Winkler’s new mandate. Renault also states in the same press release that former ex-chief Carlos Ghosn will resign from his post as a member of the Supervisory Board for the upcoming Annual General Meeting. The also departing Cherie Blair is said to have had close ties to Ghosn. This clears the way for much tighter controls by the Renault top managers – which is one of the main tasks of supervisory boards.
Mood at Renault turns against former boss Ghosn
Renault’s panel will also conduct a thorough investigation into questionable events in the Ghosn era. How the mood in the panel turns against the former boss, was revealed only yesterday. The Board of Directors accused Ghosn of “questionable and covert practices” as well as violations of corporate ethics, the Financial Times reported. It was the first time that the French carmaker publicly criticized his former boss.
Ghosn was released this Thursday arrested again in Japan – only four weeks after his release. The arrest was “outrageous and unfounded,” Ghosn told a spokesman. As a reason, the investigators said on Thursday, the risk that the 64-year-old manager could eliminate evidence. They accused him of having damaged Nissan by five million dollars over a period of two and a half years – with the aim of enriching themselves personally.
Ghosn accused the Japanese authorities of trying to silence him by re-arresting him: “I wanted to present my version of the story at a press conference next week, and with the re-imprisonment, the prosecution has denied me this opportunity, for the moment.”
It’s all about Ghosn – even papers and his wife’s cell phone seized by the authorities, As the Renault Supervisory Board is no other choice but to thoroughly examine the allegations of the authorities and to investigate possible internal misconduct.
Friends make the inspectors in the affected companies so rare. Because such internal investigations, as the diesel scandal at Volkswagen, for example, are often led by lawyers, the employees do not necessarily handle interviews with kid gloves.
Winkler should therefore face an exciting time as an overseer. Winkler can probably handle conflicts – because the long-running small car brand Smart was not exactly the favorite child in the Daimler Group.
with material from Reuters / dpa