Renault has announced changes to its senior management in the wake of Nissan's chief planning officer Andy Palmer leaving to become chief executive officer (CEO) Aston Martin.
IHS Automotive perspective | |
Significance | Renault has announced changes to its senior management in the wake of Nissan's chief planning officer Andy Palmer leaving to become CEO of Aston Martin. |
Implications | While Renault-Nissan is unlikely to have welcomed having to replace Palmer, it has moved quickly to fill the gaps created, including making changes to Renault's regional structure which could help with its competitiveness in some developing markets. |
Outlook | Aston Martin will no doubt be relieved to appoint someone like Palmer to the role of CEO given his management experience and enthusiasm, particularly given the transitional stage it is going through. |
Renault has announced that it has undertaken changes to its senior management, following the departure of Philippe Klein to join Nissan as its chief planning officer (see France - Japan: 2 September 2014: Senior Renault executive joins Nissan as chief planning officer leaves). Automotive News Europe (ANE) reports that Klein's former role of executive vice-president, product planning and programmes at the automaker will be taken by Bruno Ancelin. Ancelin, who is currently managing director of Renault's Russian business and chairman of its Eurasia Region, will be replaced by Jean-Christophe Kugler. He will move from his post as the head of the Euromed region, still reporting to Jérôme Stoll, chief performance officer and executive vice-president of Sales & Marketing for the group. This role will also be expanded to cover the Turkish, Romanian, Moldovan and Bulgarian markets. It has also been revealed that Bernard Cambier has been named senior vice president and chairman of the newly created Africa-Middle East-India Region (AMI) which includes countries in the Middle East, India and Africa. The changes will take place from 1 October.
In related news, Aston Martin has also now confirmed that Nissan's former chief planning officer Andy Palmer will join the sports car manufacturer as its new chief executive officer (CEO). According to a statement, Palmer will assume operational responsibility for all aspects of the business and will take on the role after he completes a transition period from his current employer. Following the announcement, Aston Martin's shareholder board said in a statement, "We're delighted that Andy will join us as our new CEO at this important time at Aston Martin. Andy's wealth of experience on the global automotive stage in marketing and sales, engineering and technology, and luxury and brand management will be instrumental in taking Aston Martin forward through its most significant and ambitious period of investment to date."
Outlook and implications
The chief executive officer (CEO) of Renault-Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, has been quick to fill the hole left by Palmer's departure. In passing the chief planning officer role at Nissan – which includes responsibility for Product Planning, Program Management, electric vehicle (EV) Sales and the Battery Business Unit, Marketing, Sales, Market Intelligence, and Vehicle Information Technology – to Klein, the baton has been handed to an executive with a great deal of experience in working at Nissan, he having worked in a number of roles there since the formation of the Renault-Nissan Alliance in 1999. Klein's replacement, Ancelin brings with him experience in product development and planning from his experience of programme director for the Renault Mégane, Scenic and Koleos that he undertook between 2006 and 2008. The executive changes have also bought a wider swathes of Eastern Europe under the purview of the chairmanship of the Eurasia region. However, it is likely that Kugler's main concerns in the near term will be related to the automaker's operations in Russia which have come under pressure from the weakened economy and diplomatic issues related to the country's support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine (see Russia: 11 August 2014: Russian light-vehicle market declines alarmingly in July with 22.9% fall). The creation of the new AMI region could go some way towards supporting Renault's activities and its expansion in these markets, which could be some of the fastest growing in future. Indeed, there is certainly already a great deal of overlap in the types of vehicles that the French automaker sells here and if it is able to resume operations fully in Iran and regain traction in India, this could be another significant sales region for the company.
The appointment of Palmer will be something of a relief to Aston Martin which has struggled to find a replacement for Ulrich Bez since the announcement that he would be taking a step back from the business during 2013. Palmer joins at what appears to be a positive time for the brand, it having a new stronger investor in Italy's InvestIndustrial and having signed up Daimler as a technology partner. The latter looks set to be an especially important relationship which will help Aston Martin to upgrade its powertrains and electronic systems in light of impending regulatory changes which would have been exceptionally costly for it to develop alone. Aston Martin will not only benefit from Palmer's management skills, which saw him juggle a wide range of roles at Nissan, but also his enthusiasm for the automotive world. These ingredients will important in driving the brand forward, particularly when competing against better funded and supported rivals, such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bentley.