REUTERS
Luca de Meo at a car presentation
French car maker Renault has had a pretty disastrous 2019. Sales fell 3.4 percent worldwide. And also the scandal surrounding Carlos Ghosn ex-boss of the company who has since fled to Lebanon, is likely to keep the company busy in the current year.
In order to get out of the misery, Renault is apparently now relaunching its personnel. The former Seat boss Luca de Meo is traded very hotly as a potential successor to Ghosn. In early January he left his position at the VW subsidiary – and would thus be at least theoretically free for Renault, which is currently being managed temporarily by Renault CFO Clotilde Delbos after the unsuccessful successor of Ghosn, Thierry Bolloré.
For De Meo, who has also repeatedly been treated as a potential candidate for the top position at VW and Audi, but was always left empty-handed, the job would be the culmination of his career. But certainly the most difficult task so far. Because Renault is after the spectacular fall of Ghosn and the failed alliance with Fiat in a deep crisis.
It was clear to the Italian de Meo that he wanted to become a car manager one day. His love for cars broke out after a Fiat racing driver who slept in his parents’ house during a rally put him in the cockpit of a racing car at the tender age of six, he once said.
The young de Meo pursued his career accordingly. After studying at the prestigious Milan University of Economics, Bocconi, he initially worked in marketing at Renault before moving to Toyota Show stock market chart and Fiat Show stock market chart, where he experienced a rapid rise under CEO Sergio Marchionne, switched to Volkswagen. There he initially worked for Audi Show stock market chart, finally became Head of Seat in 2015 and also received insights into the business of Ducati and Lamborghini through supervisory board posts.
At a celebration of his Alma Mater Bocconi a few years ago, de Meo said that he had always tried to counter all prejudices against Italians: I tried to be more punctual than the Germans, more stress-resistant than the Japanese. What finally makes him one of the younger bosses in the industry at 52 – with more than 20 years of industry experience in a large number of companies, segments and brands.
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