Renault’s second in command, Carlos Tavares has stepped down from his role of Chief Operating Officer and is leaving the company with immediate effect. In a statement released this morning, it cites his reason as being “in order to pursue other personal projects.”
The move comes as something of a surprise, given he was widely expected to succeed Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn next year. Ghosn, who is also Chairman and CEO of Nissan has been the boss at Renault since 2005.
Carlos Tavares, has held the position of Chief Operating Officer at Renault since 2011.In this morning’s statement, Renault confirmed that Ghosn will temporarily carry out the duties of Chief Operating Officer who also thanked Carlos Tavares “for successfully contributing to the results of the company all along his career.”
Tavares joined Renault in 1981, working his way up from test engineer to his current role which he’s held since July 2011.
He is a keen motor sports enthusiast and responsible for many of the company’s most recent projects including the 316bhp Twin’Run concept and Alpine A110-50 Concept. He was also a central figure in the partnership between Caterham and Alpine to build a series of new sports cars.
Tavares’ exit comes a fortnight after making a surprise statement about his future career, in a media interview he said it was unlikely he’d reach the top-spot at Renault, he also said he believed he was capable of running a global automotive company such as General Motors or Ford.
Renault will announce a re-organisation of its management team in the near future.
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I would like to see him take up the helm at Lotus since they’re looking. And he’s already got a Malaysian connection with the Caterham-Alpine effort so perhaps culturally it’s not that far-fetched. But maybe Lotus has got its plate full?
That being said, it seems his ambition is to run something bigger (ie American) although I don’t think he could be another Marchionne. We’ll see.
I guess there was only room for one ‘Carlos’ at the top of Renault after all, so I’m quite surprised he lasted this long.
Positions such as this are few and far between, so I’m guessing that unless he already has an offer (to lead GM or Ford) he’ll probably be looking for a consulting/NED role or something outside the automotive sector. That vacancy at Lotus looks conspicuous the longer it remains open..