Renault COO Tavares dreams of running GM or Ford

Fri, 16 Aug 2013

What do you do if you're in a job with no upward mobility? Admittedly, most of us just stick it out while secretly hoping our boss is sacked for all those paperclips he's been swiping, netting us a nice, shiny promotion. Then again, most of us aren't the number two at Renault, like Carlos Tavares.

Tavares is the right-hand man to Renault CEO, Carlos Ghosn, and like a lot of us, he's ready for another challenge. As Ghosn is only 59 years old and doesn't have a boss to fire him for paperclip theft, though, it's pretty unlikely that he'll be going anywhere anytime soon. Tavares doesn't seem too concerned, based on an interview he gave to Automotive News. "We have a big leader and he is here to stay," Tavares told AN.

What's surprising is where Tavares wants to go, "Why not GM? I would be honored to lead a company like GM." The Renault exec also mentioned Ford, and as AN points out, both organizations make a lot of sense. Both are led by CEOs that are approaching or are already past retirement age, and should be looking for dedicated replacements in the not-so-distant future. That doesn't mean Tavares is a shoe-in, though.

At Ford, he'd be up against Mark Fields, the Blue Oval's current Chief Operating Officer, who is widely considered to be Alan Mullaly's ultimate replacement. Competition would be even stiffer for the top spot at GM, where Tavares would have to challenge both Mark Reuss and Mary Barra.

Tavares doesn't seem concerned about the competition, though. "GM may have other candidates who are good and if it doesn't happen, that's okay. I would consider other companies, but the Detroit companies have succession coming." He's right about that.

By Brandon Turkus