Luca de Meo has left his tenure as CEO of Renault, having led one of France’s most important companies for five years.
The Italian auto executive brought vast small-car experience to Renault, when he joined as CEO in 2020. With a career that saw De Meo in crucial positions at Fiat, Abarth, VW, and Seat, his skills in managing and marketing compact cars are broad and proven.
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Going beyond crisis
During his tenure at Renault, two key themes emerged. The uneasy relationship with Nissan, as part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, and introducing more electrified powertrains to the market.
Although De Meo wasn’t part of the Renault executives who rescued Nissan from ruin in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he had to deal with the fallout. This occurred in 2019 after Carlos Ghosn, the former CEO of Renault and Nissan, escaped a pending trial in Japan and became deeply critical of Nissan’s journey to irrelevance over the past few years.
Managing the tension between Renault and Nissan didn’t distract De Meo from his task of helping the French car company do what it has always done best: produce terrific compact cars.
Although Renault’s core models don’t sell in the world’s most profitable car market (North America), the company has always managed to balance scale, innovation and production efficiency to bring Renaults to people who value them in Europe and South America.
The loss of Russia as a market has been detrimental since the war in Ukraine, particularly for Renault, which held a significant market share in Russia and had a substantial investment in AvtoVAZ.
Cognisant of compact cars
De Meo’s tenure at Renault will be measured by the products that come to market in the next few months. The revived Renault 5 E-Tech channels one of the brand’s great legacy cars with terrific modern packaging.
Renault’s battery-powered Twingo, due for market release in 2026, will be another testament to De Meo’s small car vision.
From Fiat to Renault, De Meo’s career was all about making the most important but challenging cars to produce profitably – small ones. His revival of the Renault 5 and commitment to the Twingo demonstrate that De Meo brought a genuine sense of mission to his position as a car company CEO. Rather than merely seeking to profit from generic luxury SUVs.
