Renault’s Chief Performance Officer Mueller Quits

Stefan Mueller, Renault SA’s chief performance officer, has elected to leave the company, sources tell Reuters.

Mueller’s departure appears to clear the way for Thierry Bollore, Renault’s chief competitive officer, to eventually succeed Carlos Ghosn as CEO.

Bollore and Mueller joined Renault six years ago and moved into their most recent jobs in 2012 and 2016, respectively.

The two men have been vying for the CEO job since Ghosn expressed a desire last year to focus more of his attention on the growth of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. Ghosn, who is chairman of all three carmakers, stepped down as Nissan’s CEO a year ago. Last month he told French lawmakers that continuing as CEO at Renault was not sustainable.

Earlier this month Le Figaro said Renault might first create a new chief operating officer position to ease Ghosn’s duties there.​​​​​