Carlos Tavares Renault COO was fired

A new report sheds light on Carlos Tavares’ sudden departure from his position as Renault’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) in late August.

Renault initially explained 55-year old Tavares voluntarily left the company to pursue personal projects, but inside sources told French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur the company’s top executives essentially voted to push Tavares out after he admitted to Bloomberg he saw no future at Renault because CEO Carlos Ghosn was not about to retire.  Tavares continued by stating he would be honored to end his career at the head of a large American automaker such as Ford or General Motors.

The news of the interview spread like wildfire in Renault’s headquarters, prompting Ghosn to gather all of the automaker’s top executives (including representatives from the French government, which owns 15 percent of Renault) for an emergency meeting in Paris to ask if Tavares had crossed the line.  The executives’ unanimous positive responses reportedly left Ghosn with no choice but to ask the COO to pack his bags after a 32-year long career at Renault.

The decision was not an easy one for Ghosn, who lost his previous COO in April of 2011 as a result of the espionage scandal that rocked Renault a couple of years ago.  As a result, Ghosn has chosen not to replace Tavares and to delete the position of COO, leaving the 59-year old by himself at the head of France’s largest automaker.