Renault appoints new CTO and scores good sales results

Renault named former Ferrari executive Philippe Krief CTO, replacing Gilles Le Borgne. Meanwhile, the group sold 1.9% more vehicles worldwide in the first half of 2024 (H1) and 6.7% more in Europe.

Krief, currently already CEO of Renault’s Alpine sports and racing brand, will take on the role on Sept. 1 and report to CEO Luca de Meo. He will retain his post at Alpine. Renault added in a statement on July 17 that Le Borgne will serve as de Meo’s strategic advisor.

Former Ferrari director

Renault said Philippe Krief will manage all group engineering activities and resources, drawing on his extensive experience, particularly his time as Ferrari’s engineering boss.

As head of Alpine, Krief has worked to build an entire brand from a single niche model, the A110 sports coupe, starting with the A290 (a sporty version of the electric Renault 5) revealed just recently. A compact electric SUV, the GT, will follow, as will a family of sports cars built around the new A110 and two larger SUVs planned for the U.S. market.

Krief graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées. He started his career at Michelin and then moved to Fiat Group, Ferrari, and Maserati. He later became the technical director of the Alfa Romeo brand.

In 2016, Krief returned to Ferrari as Director of Engineering. He moved to the Renault Group in February 2023 as director of engineering and product performance at Alpine before being named CEO of the sub-brand in July 2023.

Former PSA

Le Borgne joined Renault in 2020 from PSA Group, where he had been head of engineering. He led Renault through the first three years of de Meo’s ‘Renaulution’ turnaround plan for the then-struggling automaker. In particular, he worked to cut development times and costs deeply by reducing complexity.

“He was able to get our engineering moving again and regain efficiency, enabling us to deliver a large number of the models in the Renaulution plan this year,” de Meo said about Le Borgne in a statement.

Le Borgne, an Ecole Nationale Superieure des Ceramiques Industrielles graduate, was an engineering executive at PSA Group for over 30 years before joining Renault Group in January 2020.

At PSA, he was a platform architect for the Citroen C3 and chief engineer for the group’s A segment platform. In 2007, he became a senior vice president, leading the EMP2 platform project for compact and midsize vehicles and advanced concepts and vehicle platforms.

Le Borgne was named director of R&D in April 2013 and then group quality and engineering director in September 2016, a post he held until May 2019. As mentioned, he will still have the CEO’s ear at Renault, being one of his strategic advisors.

Continued growth

Meanwhile, with 847,623 vehicles sold in Europe in the first half of 2024, Renault confirms its third place with a 6.7% sales increase in a market that grew 5.5%. The brand Renault sold 8.2% more vehicles, primarily due to the success of its E-Tech hybrid versions (+45%) and its LCV sales (+19.2%), where it is again the market leader.

Dacia increased its European sales by 4% and remains in Europe’s top 10 best-selling brands. The Sandero has become the best-selling car in Europe, dethroning the Tesla Model Y. Finally, Alpine has sold 2,569 cars, all A110 sports coupes, of course, and a 47.7% increase.

Renault Group’s share of electrified cars increased by 4.3% to 29.6% in Europe. Fully electric vehicles represented almost 12% of all Renault sales. Renault hopes these figures will increase drastically with the venue of the Scenic and R5 E-Tech Electric.