Luca de Meo, Renault’s CEO, is the powerhouse of the European car industry. Five years ago – in the summer of Covid-19 – he was appointed to salvage the French car maker, which had just posted a 7.3-billion Euro loss (more than £6 billion). In February he announced the best profits in the group’s history – and next month he’ll be leaving on a high.
Unless you’re an investor, you might not care. But if you care about affordable small cars, charismatic electric cars or Alpine sticking with sports cars and Formula 1 despite neither being an easy win, then you should care about Luca de Meo. Because he stands for all those things and plenty more besides.
He helped make Renaults great again
Let’s start with the new Renault 5. A design proposal to bring back the chic supermini was rejected by the previous management team; de Meo arrived, saw it and instantly fast-tracked the electric city car. It’s won a string of awards including the European Car of the Year title, Renault’s second in succession following the triumphant Scenic E-Tech electric, an accolade I backed when serving on that jury of 58 motoring journalists.
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The electric Megane – the first all-new car of the de Meo era – would have had smaller wheels and far less sporty looks, had the passionate Italian not injected the Renaultsport version’s details into the base car. His argument that it was a hot hatch was a prime example of De Meo’s passion getting the better of him, but the sharp steering and turn of pace do make for an engaging EV.
