Luca de Meo (born 13 June 1967) is an Italian automotive executive who is currently the CEO of Renault Group.
Early life and education
Born in Milan in 1967 to parents originating from Puglia region, de Meo received a degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan. In his thesis he examined business ethics, which was one of the first dissertations on this subject in Italy. De Meo started to develop a passion for cars at the age of seven. He was intrigued by the Italian pilot Arnaldo Cavallari, who took de Meo on a ride on his Lancia Fulvia HF.
Career
Automotive sector
De Meo has more than thirty years of experience in the automotive sector. He began his career at Renault, from 1992 to 1998, in Italy then France, prior to joining Toyota Europe.
Fiat Group
In 2002, he joined the Fiat Group, where he was Head of Business Units of the brand Lancia, before he was appointed by Sergio Marchionne as CEO of Fiat Automobiles and later of Alfa Romeo. He also served as Chief Marketing Officer of Fiat Group from 2007 to 2009. He was also the CEO of Abarth. During his time at Fiat, Luca de Meo led the Fiat 500 project and revived the Abarth brand.
The re-launch of Fiat 500 in 2007 is usually attributed to him. Also, the success of its revival tends to be accredited to Luca de Meo. The model is considered to be the one that 'saved' Fiat. In 2022, the model produced in 2007 recorded more than 3 million vehicles sold.
Volkswagen Group
De Meo joined the Volkswagen Group in 2009, as Marketing Director of the Volkswagen brand and of the Volkswagen Group, prior to taking up the position of board of management member for sales and marketing at Audi AG. He was a member of the Supervisory Boards of Ducati and Lamborghini as well as Chairman of the Board of the Volkswagen Group in Italy and Spain.
He was President of SEAT S.A. (including SEAT & CUPRA) from November 2015 to January 2020. Luca de Meo spent four years developing Volkswagen's brand, to make it reach a high operating profit in 2017. That year, SEAT increased its operating profit by 24.8% and delivered 468,400 cars. In 2018, that growth was sustained and further increased by 23.1%. He also expanded the brand in Latin America. In 2019, SEAT registered its 'historical' sales record, with over 574,000 sold cars. 2019 was also the year when Luca de Meo introduced the new Leon.
Under his presidency, the brand entered the SUV category, with the models Ateca, Arona and Tarraco.
He also launched the CUPRA brand, with the first model being a sports SUV: the Cupra Foremntor. Cupra is the brand that helped SEAT return to profitability.
Renault Group
In January 2020, it was announced that he would be the CEO of Renault Group effective July 2020.
In 2020, he entrusted the brand Dacia, whose positioning he aspired to readjust, to Denise le Vot.
In January 2021, de Meo presented "Renaulution", the new strategic plan for Renault Group articulated in three phases: Resurrection, Renovation and Revolution. The plan seeks to develop Renault's brands and their vehicles and make an electric transition. In 2022, it was announced that Renault Group started to witness a financial improvement and de Meo managed to turn around the company in 18 months. Accordingly, better financial results for 2021 were released, they included a 6% increase in revenues and a net profit approaching one billion (€967 million).
In November 2022, on the occasion of Renault Group's "Capital Market Day", he announced a reorganization of the Group into five divisions, including Ampere a subsidiairy dedicated to electric cars.
In January 2022, he officially announced the construction of the future electric SUV at the Alpine factory in Dieppe. Luca de Meo intends to occupy the high-segment with this brand, relaunched as part of the second version of the Renaulution plan.
In January 2023, Luca de Meo completed the first phase of his "Renaulution" program in less than two years. In 2023, de Meo's strategy was bringing about results as Renault's operating margin increased to 5.6% for the past year, compared to only 2.8% in 2021. When he first joined Renault Group, the company was losing €8 billion. Two and a half years after, Luca de Meo managed to make the Group witness a financial recovery.
Luca de Meo aims at making Renault become a 100% electric brand by 2030 in Europe. Overall, Renault Group, led by de Meo, seeks to become carbon-neutral in Europe by 2040 and worldwide by 2050.
In February 2023, he introduced a plan for the production of Renault electric vehicles in France.