Ever since Patrick Pelata took the fall at Renault after the botched spy scandal, the position of COO and deputy of Carlos Ghosn had been vacant. Now, there are strong indications from Paris that the job will go to Carlos Tavares, currently chief of Nissan’s Americas unit.
The Wall Street Journal sees Tavares as a “top contender” for the job. Agence France Presse saw Tavares visiting “the office of the Minister of Industry, Eric Besson, and that of the Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde.” Le Monde expects that “the name of Ghosn’s successor, barring unforeseen circumstances, will be announced next week.” Le Monde also thinks it could be Tavares. Le Figaro reports that “for several weeks, CEO Carlos Ghosn has promoted Carlos Tavares.”
My contacts at Renault say that “as you can imagine we can’t comment on speculation.” The way it was said, Tavares stands an excellent chance to be the future COO of Renault.
Tavares is currently executive vice president and a member of the Board of Directors of Nissan. He serves as chairman of the Management Committee-Americas and oversees Nissan’s operations in North, Central and South America. Tavares worked at Renault for 23 years in engineering and program-management, before joining Nissan in April 2004 as a program director.
“Les Deux Carlos”
Shouldn’t that be “Los Dos Carlos”?
Actually no. It should be “Os Dois Carlos”.
Both Ghosn and Tavares are native Portuguese speakers (Ghosn is Brazilian and Tavares is Portuguese).
Is this the same guy who brought us “Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel” and “Native New Yorker?”
I think he played Billy Elliot in the Broadway musical, but I don’t think he sang those songs. Funny, I thought he was Australian, with a first name like “Ohio” or something…
He’s wearing a pretty high belt-lne … kinda reminded me of Erkel…