Renault Board Want SEAT Boss Luca De Meo For CEO

Last month, we got wind of Renault considering SEAT boss Luca de Meo for the position of CEO, along with a few other candidates such as Faurecia chief executive, Patrick Koller.

Now, it’s been reported that the French automaker’s board has decided on the 52-year old de Meo, who supposedly also has the backing of the French government, Renault’s biggest shareholder with a 15% stake, as per Agence France-Presse and Les Echos.

However, according to Les Echos, there might be a non-compete clause in de Meo’s contract with the VW Group that would prevent him from taking office at Renault, should he indeed choose to make the switch.

Also read: Nissan’s New Boss Doesn’t Want Closer Ties With Renault At The Moment

The report also claims that the reason why Renault’s current interim CEO, Clotilde Delbos, wasn’t considered for a more permanent position, is due to her relative inexperience within the industry – she mostly has a financial background.

De Meo meanwhile emerged as favorite for the Renault top job due to his success in making SEAT profitable. He also happens to speak French, having started his career at Renault, before moving to Toyota and then Fiat.

Renault’s CEO position has been vacant since Thierry Bollore was ousted back in October. In fact, both Renault and Nissan parted ways with executives that were closely associated with the Carlos Ghosn era, as reported by Autonews Europe.

As for SEAT’s take on the matter, they issued the following statement last month: “Luca de Meo is fully committed to Seat, as he himself has stated on several occasions since he was appointed company president in 2015.” – sounds to us like the Spanish brand is in no mood to shake things up at the top.