Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn has told the Financial Times that he’s likely to step down as CEO of the French automaker before the end of his term is in 2022.
The 64-year old executive will however stay on as chairman of Renault, while moving forward as CEO and chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. Renault has yet to offer an official comment on the matter.
“You can suspect before 2022 I will stop being CEO of Renault,” said Ghosn during an interview.
Ghosn is currently focused on strengthening the relationship between Nissan and Renault and better-prepare the automakers for the current industry shift towards full electric and self-driving vehicles. To focus on this, in 2017 he handed over the day-to-day running of Nissan to Hiroto Saikawa.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Ghosn has hinted at assuming a different role. Back in 2012, he stated that he didn’t want to continue doing this into his 60s, while at the start of this year, he alluded to stepping down as Renault CEO during a hearing on industry policy, saying that managing three major companies wasn’t “sustainable”.
Last September, the alliance unveiled a 2022 mid-term plan targeting increasing annual synergies of more than 10 billion euros ($11.8 billion) – a significant increase from 5 billion in 2016, reports Autonews.
Moving forward, current Renault chief operating officer Thierry Bollore could be the one tasked with CEO duties once Ghosn steps down.
Logo – Alliance Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Motors