PSA’s Tavares to Head ACEA in 2018

PSA Group CEO Carlos Tavares has been elected president of ACEA, the European auto industry trade group, for 2018.

Tavares, 59, will succeed Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche, who has served two one-year terms, on Jan. 1. The group elects its president for no more than two terms from among the chairmen, CEOs and presidents of its 14 European car, truck and bus manufacturer members.

Tavares says his focus will be to improve vehicle safety and set an “ambitious but realistic” path to lower carbon dioxide emissions.

Portuguese by birth, Tavares joined Renault in 1981 and held several executive positions there before joining Nissan in 2004. By 2009, he was president of Nissan’s North American operations. He became chief operating officer of Renault in 2011. He was named CEO at PSA in 2014.