Effective January 2, 2026, Alexandre Malval has been appointed Vice President of Design for the Renault brand. He will report to Laurens van den Acker, Chief Design Officer and member of the Renault Group Leadership Team. He will also join the Renault brand management committee.
“We are delighted to welcome Alexandre Malval to our Design team,” comments Laurens van den Acker. “His experience with major automotive groups, his international outlook, and his ability to create strong design-led brands will be essential assets to push Renault to the next level. The future of mobility is exciting, and I’m looking forward to working with Alexandre to make our dreams come true.”
Renault brand CEO and Chief Growth Officer Renault Group Fabrice Cambolive added: “The arrival of Alexandre Malval marks a new milestone in our ambition: to design ‘des voitures à vivre’ that fully embody Renault’s strategic vision, combining emotion, innovation, and an exceptional customer experience. His international experience and innovative mindset will be key assets in driving Renault’s growth in Europe and on the global stage.”
Advanced design
Alexandre Malval, 55, graduated from the Royal College of Art in London. For most of his design career, he was working in advanced design departments.
He began this career at Renault in 1994 in the Advanced Design department, exploring new concepts as an exterior designer before joining Volkswagen Group’s Design Center Europe in Barcelona in 1996. There, he worked on numerous projects for the Audi and Volkswagen brands.
In 2001, he joined the Citroën Creation Center in Paris, then moved to Peugeot’s, before becoming head of Citroën design in 2012.
Since 2018, Alexandre Malval has been CEO and Design Director of the Mercedes-Benz International Design Center Europe in Sophia Antipolis. This satellite studio is dedicated to advanced design and the development of production vehicles for Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, Smart, and AMG.
It contributes to the renewal of the group’s brands. It oversees both forward-looking research and the creation of concept cars, as well as the design of several production models.
Is the circle completed?
When one looks at the careers of many car designers, it often resembles musical chairs, but in the end, they frequently come back to where it all began. That seems to be the case also for Alexandre Malval, who started his career at Renault’s advanced design department, but then spent the longest time of his design life at PSA, first also in advanced design, later heading the entire Citroën design department.
Designers are usually self-conscious people with solid ambitions. Usually, they stay in the design field. Still, some of them even become the CEO of an entire manufacturing company, like Thomas Ingenlath, who first designed Volvo cars but later became the boss at Polestar, where he has now also left.
Still, most designers stay in their field, but are known as job-hoppers. That’s also a logical feat: design is constantly evolving; gathering new inspiration often involves changing the working atmosphere. Breathing new air and meeting other people are key to staying on top of this constant evolution.
Musical chairs
Between the two leading French manufacturers, Renault and Stellantis, there seems to be a constant rivalry regarding their designers. Many of them have gone back and forth between the two, in a sort of musical chairs scheme among their (primarily French) designers.
To concentrate on these recent moves, it all started five years ago, when Gilles Vidal left Stellantis after 25 years to become the head of design at Renault. In July, he made the opposite move, returning to oversee the design of all the European brands in the Stellantis portfolio.
So, at Renault, they had to look for a new head of design and saw an opportunity to lure another old (and French) acquaintance away from Mercedes to lead the design team.
In the end, some of them become responsible for the entire design context of a large manufacturer, like Adrian van Hooydonk at BMW, Gordon Wagener at Mercedes, Luc Donckerwolke at Hyundai, Ralph Gilles at Stellantis, or Laurens van den Acker at Renault Group.
There is a possibility that Malval, in his final assignment, may succeed Laurens van den Acker (who is five years older) at the helm of Renault Group’s design department. But right now, that’s only future speculation. All will depend on the success of Renault’s design in the years to come.
