Renault Shuffles Management Structure

Renault SA says it is eliminating the chief operating officer job vacated last week by Carlos Tavares and splitting that function into two parts.

Under the new structure, a chief competitiveness officer will lead a board dedicated to developing and producing vehicles. A chief performance officer will head a second board in charge of sales and marketing. Both groups will report to CEO Carlos Ghosn.

Renault has not announced who will fill the two new positions.

The company says the chief competitiveness officer's group will be responsible for product development, design and engineering, plus purchasing, manufacturing, quality, IT, supply chain management and cost control.

The chief performance officer's team will be responsible for meeting the Renault's goals for revenue, market share and profit margin.

The Wall Street Journal says separating the company's sales operations from vehicle development and production will make it easier for Renault and alliance partner Nissan Motor Co. to further integrate their product-related operations in future. Andy Palmer, Nissan's global product planning chief, said last week that the partners are accelerating platform-sharing plans.