PARIS -- Renault Chief Financial Officer Clotilde Delbos could be named as the automaker's interim CEO to replace Thierry Bollore, French television station BFM said on its website on Thursday.
Renault's board will meet to discuss governance matters on Friday amid intensifying speculation about the future of Bollore, who is said to have lost the support of Chairman and Jean-Dominique Senard and Renault's 15 percent stakeholder, the French state.
Renault plans to issue a statement following the meeting, it said on Thursday.
Bollore told French newspaper Les Echos on Thursday that the news that Senard was pushing for his removal was "totally unexpected" and "stupefying."
Delbos would be a steady hand at the embattled automaker, which has suffered a number of setbacks since former chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn was arrested 11 months ago in Japan on allegations of financial misconduct, plunging the automaker's relations with Nissan into crisis.
Renault has been hit by the departures of a number of top executives, many to rival PSA Group, and a planned merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles collapsed in June after it failed to win the support of the French government, a major shareholder, and Nissan.
Delbos, a 2018 Automotive News Europe Eurostar, joined Renault in 2012 as group controller and was promoted to CFO in 2016. Before joining Renault she worked for auditors PwC and later for the Pechiney Group, Alcan and Constellium.
Bollore, for a long time Ghosn's right-hand man, was promoted to the CEO post in January -- when Senard became chairman -- to help steady Renault after Ghosn resigned from his posts.
Other possible contenders are emerging to replace Bollore.
Renault’s former chief operating officer, Patrick Pelata, who left his position after an espionage scandal but kept an advisory role at the Renault-Nissan alliance until last year, said he would be ready to help Renault temporarily “if this allows a faster or more serene transition” to a new management team.
Following Ghosn’s arrest in November 2018, outsiders cited possible replacements including Carlos Tavares, a former Renault executive who is now CEO of rival automaker PSA Group, and Airbus SE’s former head of commercial aircraft, Fabrice Bregier, as well as Didier Leroy, a senior executive at Toyota.
“I’m not a candidate and I wasn’t contacted,” Leroy said by phone. “I’m very happy at Toyota and I have the trust of Akio Toyoda.” Toyoda is CEO of Toyota.
Peter Sigal, Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report
