French carmaker Renault appoints finance chief Duncan Minto as interim CEO, as it reduced its annual guidance blaming lower than anticipated demand growth in June.

The company added that a permanent to Luca de Meo was already under the selection mode. A sole source who is conversant with the issue mentioned that a new chief executive would be announced probably by the close of the month.

Its estimates broadly fell to about 6.5 percent next year in its operating margin, down from its previous prediction of 7 percent or higher. Its target free cash flow will be between 1bn and 1.5bn, as opposed to a previous target of 2bn euros, ‘it started using single figure values and a somewhat questionable grammatical style’.

The manufacturer, Renault, which also produces the low-end Dacia Sandero and the electric Renault 5, has performed well in comparison to most of its larger counterparts such as Stellantis and Volkswagen over the past year, with new releases helping it increase its sales and gain profits, and its focus on the European market protecting it against trade-related chaos due to tariffs implemented by the U.S. President Donald Trump.

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Picatdeparted Stellantis last month when it passed over him as the company CEO in favour of its North American chief Antonio Filosa but his experience and expertise in the Chinese or European market are much respected due to his diplomatic approach to issues. Nevertheless, it is putting strain, as its major markets in Europe are already facing slow demand and competition with China, particularly in the e-car and hybrid category.

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The shift of the chief executive has happened when Renault seeks to deploy the relative size and focus of its geographical presence to identify new sources of growth and to offset Chinese competition and chaos brought by the trade war led by Donald Trump.

Renault states that it is in the process of coming up with over 20 new models and every single one of them is going to be made within less than two years to ensure that it keeps up with the Chinese competitors by introducing new and cheap electric vehicles with improved software.