PARIS -- Renault veteran Arnaud Deboeuf is the latest executive to quit the automaker to join rival PSA Group, underscoring deep tensions in the Renault-Nissan alliance in the wake of the November 2018 arrest of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn.
Deboeuf has been appointed industrial strategy director, a PSA spokesman said on Tuesday.
Deboeuf blamed Renault CEO Thierry Bollore for forcing his exit.
Deboeuf was a close ally of Ghosn, serving as alliance senior vice president. He had worked at Renault since 1993.
Tensions in the Renault-Nissan alliance have been exacerbated by failed attempts under Bollore and new Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard to secure a full merger and to combine Renault with Fiat Chrysler, a move thwarted by the French state.
Deboeuf was well regarded at Nissan and even offered a senior executive role at the Japanese automaker, as his relations with Bollore soured following Ghosn's ouster, three sources told Reuters. But Bollore, who succeeded Ghosn as Renault CEO in January, blocked the move..
"Thierry Bollore told me no one wanted to work with me ... and that I could not go to work at Nissan either," Deboeuf said in a farewell email to colleagues seen by Reuters.
Renault declined to comment on Deboeuf's departure. Deboeuf did not respond to requests for comment.
Deboeuf's move adds to a steady Renault brain-drain to PSA since 2013, when Carlos Tavares was hired from Renault as PSA CEO to rescue PSA from near-bankruptcy.
Analysts say the years of nonaggression between PSA and Renault are gone.
In March, PSA hired Thierry Koskas, Renault's former sales director, joined PSA as head of sales and marketing. Other former Renault executives now at PSA include Alain Raposo, head of powertrain, battery and chassis engineering, Olivier Bourget, head of programs and strategy, and Yann Vincent, industrial director to whom Deboeuf will report.
In June the Financial Times reported that several Renault-Nissan joint business areas such as light commercial vehicles, sales and marketing, and communications are being unwound, and Ghosn's "CEO Office" was being disbanded. The office was responsible for the day-to-day running of alliance functions and was led by Deboeuf.
Automotive News Europe contributed to this report
