De Meo resigns as CEO of the Renault Group and will leave the automotive sector.

Luca de Meo will leave the Renault Group, which he led since July 2020, "to pursue new challenges outside the automotive sector." His voluntary resignation as CEO will take effect on July 15, according to a statement from the French company, but he will continue to serve until that date.

His destination, according to the Italian newspaper Il Correire and the French newspaper Le Figaro, is the luxury brand conglomerate Kering (known as Pinault until 2013), owner of brands such as Gucci, Balenciaga, and Yves Saint Laurent. Owned by the Pinault family, it manages the Artémis holding company, which manages other investments and businesses, including the auction house Christie's, the magazine Le Point, and the Stade Rennais football team.

Recasens will not be his successor

Meanwhile, the Board of Directors "has begun the process of appointing a new CEO, based on the already defined succession plan." That is, according to the guidelines contained in its governance.

In this regard, internal sources have ruled out the possibility of the Spaniard Josep María Recasens, Renault's current number two, as that successor. And yet, one of the 58-year-old Italian executive's latest decisions was to delegate to him ultimate responsibility for Ampere, Renault's 100% electric car and software division. Recasens was already the company's global director of strategy.

De Meo thus closes a long career in the automotive world, which began in 1992 at Renault. Toyota, then Fiat (a brand he led and where he relaunched the new 500 and "invented" Abarth) followed, until he was appointed Global Marketing Director of the Volkswagen Group in 2009. In 2015, he was entrusted with the reinstatement of Seat, although he would have liked to succeed Rupert Stadler at the head of Audi.

Recover Seat

Under his leadership, Seat returned to profit, and he was also responsible, along with Wayne Griffiths, for creating Cupra as its own brand, sportier and much more profitable than Seat itself. For this reason, it is also the brand to which the Germans entrust their first electric models.

The next step came as a surprise in January 2020, shortly before the pandemic broke out, when he announced his departure from Seat. At that time, he was already negotiating his move to Renault, which was going through difficult times. His work at the French company, where he also had to renegotiate the alliance Renault had maintained with Nissan since 1999, has been impeccable , both from an industrial and financial perspective. In fact, it was one of the few manufacturers that did not have to issue a profit warning last year to protect its financial results.

Spain's crucial role

Much of that success has been based on a strategy that has made Spain a strategic industrial hub. "We've always considered it our second home," this executive, accustomed to inventing unusual terms like "Renaulution," repeatedly stated, defining the plan (in three phases) to recover Renault.

And while France left the production of 100% electric models in the North— as it had promised the French government when it provided financial aid in 2020— it made Spain its global hub for hybrid models. That is, the technology most in demand by European customers, driven by cars like the Renault Captur, Austral, and Espace, assembled in Palencia and Valladolid.

The work is done

Internationally, De Meo has also been the most combative executive regarding EU automotive policies, managing to redirect them both from the Renault leadership and from his position as president of the European automakers' association, Acea, which he held until last year. The latest salvo was a joint interview with Stellantis CEO John Elkann, in which he called for measures to boost the production of small cars.

Renault Chairman of the Board of Directors Jean-Dominique Senard emphasized this afternoon that "Luca de Meo has worked to restore the Renault Group to its rightful place... In addition to being an exceptional leader in the industry, he is also a creative, committed, passionate, and inspiring person. Today, the entire company joins me in thanking him for all these years and all the collective challenges successfully overcome," he noted.

Exit of two giants

"There comes a time in life when you know the job is done. At Renault Group, we have achieved what many thought impossible, and the results are the best in our history. That's why I've decided it's time to hand over the reins," De Meo said in the statement released by the French company.

Curiously, his departure comes just seven months after the departure of Carlos Tavares as CEO of Stellantis, whom he was never considered a possible replacement. They didn't get along particularly well, as their public statements demonstrated, but their departure leaves the global automotive industry without two of its last great figures.