The shock announcement of Renault CEO Luca de Meo's departure will have a profound effect internally and externally after he transformed a company driven to the brink of collapse by the Covid pandemic.
“Luca de Meo's departure is unequivocally a blow to Renault,” Stephen Reitman, automotive analyst at the bank Bernstein, said of De Meo’s decision to leave automotive together for the luxury world, specifically as head of Gucci-owner Kering. “We are saddened by the loss,” he said.
If Reitman’s response makes it sound more like a death than a resignation, that’s because of the enormous impact De Meo has had on Renault since joining July 2020. The French company was seemingly unsavable. The loss of sales from Covid shutdowns meant it was losing 15 million euros a day. The partnership with Nissan that brought much needed scale was on the rocks, the line-up was unremarkable and morale was low
Immediately the Italian brought to bear his experience at the Volkswagen Group and Fiat and transformed the place. “When I came into the design room in 2020, there were 20 concepts. I think three quarters were small cars for very exotic markets,” he said back in 2023. “I changed the whole product plan in six weeks.”
Out went the bulk of the small cars and in their place bigger SUVs in more profitable compact and midsize segments including the Symbioz, Scenic, Austral, Espace and Rafale. Dacia gained the Bigster above the Duster. He elegantly left the Nissan alliance while at the same time repairing relations and switching to a more informal partnership between the two. He found shared values at Geely and hungrily sought out information and tie-ups in China in the battle to lower costs and speed up development.
Always smartly turned out with his trademark handkerchief points emerging from his suit top pocket, de Meo was a consummate marketeer. ‘Never be dull,” might have been his motto. Although costs remained an obsession, he didn’t shy away from spending on projects that made a splash. As recently as May he was indignant that he should sell the underperforming Alpine F1 team just as the whole long-term Alpine premium project was getting going.
De Meo attacked the problem of making money on pricey EVs in the same way he extracted VW Group brand Seat from the financial doldrums by creating the sexier, sportier Cupra sub-brand. He made cars people would want to pay more for.
The replacement for the worthy but ordinary Zoe electric car therefore become the sensational Renault 5 reboot with the bonus Renault 4 small SUV off the same platform also leveraging the icons of the past.
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