Renault names Foucher new EV boss ahead of key Zoe launch
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Beatrice Foucher was chosen as one of Automotive News Europe's 25 Leading Women in the European automotive industry. |
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PARIS -- Renault has appointed a new head of its electric vehicles unit just months before the launch of the Zoe, Renault's first mass-produced EV.
Beatrice Foucher will succeed Thierry Koskas, who is going to become head of Renault's operations in Argentina. Foucher was previously head of product planning for all Renault cars.
The changes take effect Sept. 1.
Foucher's challenge will be the successful launch of the Zoe, which is a crucial model in the Renault-Nissan alliance's 4-billion-euro investment in EVs. With an annual production capacity of 150,000 Zoes, Renault is counting on the subcompact to make EVs more mainstream. The Zoe makes its European debut in the fourth quarter.
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With an annual production capacity of 150,000, Renault is counting on the Zoe to make EVs more mainstream. |
Renault already sells the battery-powered Fluence mid-sized sedan, Kangoo van and Twizy quadricycle and CEO Carlos Ghosn forecasts that EVs will represent 10 percent of all cars sold globally by 2020 .
Foucher, 48, will report to Philippe Klein, Renault's executive vice president of corporate planning, product planning and programs.
Foucher, who is French, joined Renault in 1989 in the quality-control division before transferring to the customer research division in 1993. Three years later she joined Renault's product division, where she was product manager for the fourth-generation Espace, deputy product manager for the second-generation Laguna and head of future projects.
Renault named Foucher a product director in April 2007 and in 2008 she was named one of Automotive News Europe's 25 Leading Women in the European automotive industry.
Foucher has an engineering degree from Agro Paris Tech and a master's degree in quality management from Ecole Centrale Paris.
 | Thierry Koskas has led Renault's EV program since 2008. |
Koskas, 47, began his professional career at the French Ministry of Industry before joining Renault in 1997. Renault named Koskas head of the company's electric vehicle program in December 2008. He has an engineering degree from Ecole Polytechnique in France.
You can reach Bruce Gain at bgain@crain.com.
