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Boulogne-Billancourt (dpa) - New boss, new course: Around six months after its start, Renault General Director Luca de Meo wants to present his strategy for the crisis-ridden car maker today.
The top manager, who comes from Italy, has already made it clear that he is less focused on quantity and instead focuses on returns.
The hunt for sales records, which the former CEO Carlos Ghosn had decreed with an iron hand, will finally be a thing of history.
At Renault in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris, De Meo's plan has the difficult-to-pronounce name "Renaulution".
The manufacturer has been in deep crisis for a long time.
Last year he announced the reduction of 15,000 jobs worldwide and cost savings of around 2 billion euros.
De Meo now has to show his colors, whether that's enough or whether he saddles on it.
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Like other car manufacturers, Renault was badly affected by the corona pandemic and its economic consequences last year.
Group sales fell by a good 21 percent to almost three million vehicles for the year as a whole.
In the first half of 2020, the manufacturer posted a record loss of around 7.3 billion euros with its Japanese partner Nissan, also due to the deep red numbers.
The 53-year-old De Meo wants to reflect on the old strengths of the French manufacturer.
A comeback of the R5, a successful small car from the 1970s, is as good as certain, reported the French daily «Le Figaro».
Renault initially did not comment on this.
The R5 had rolled off the production line in 1972.
As the Fiat manager at the time, De Meo was instrumental in introducing the retro model Fiat 500.
The Renault management signaled last year that they would not shake the Franco-Japanese auto alliance forged by Ghosn.
Renault has a 43.4 percent stake in Nissan.
Mitsubishi is also part of the alliance.
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Renault and the Autoallianz had already got into crisis in the wake of the scandal surrounding the dazzling car boss Ghosn.
The ex-manager was arrested and charged in Tokyo in November 2018, among other things, for violating stock market requirements.
In April 2019, the native Brazilian was released from custody under strict conditions on bail.
Ghosn fled to Beirut in a private jet, allegedly hidden in a box, under dubious circumstances at the end of December 2019.
The French judiciary is investigating alleged misappropriation of funds at Renault by Ghosn.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210114-99-18445 / 2