As Renault SA's former procurement head, Francois Provost was used to keeping a tight grip on the purse strings. Now as chief executive officer, he's trying to convince investors that the automaker must become more like its lower-cost Chinese rivals.
A renewed focus on slashing expenses is expected to be part of a plan Provost will lay out Tuesday at a strategy day near Paris. The CEO has been looking to use more technology from Chinese partner Geely to lower development costs. But efficiency gains alone may not be enough to fix Renault's worsening sales performance, which has contributed to a 20% slump in the share price this year.
"Provost is a cost-cutter," and his decisions and comments on strategy so far haven't been convincing, said Pierre-Olivier Essig, an analyst at AIR Capital. "No forward vision is what worries us the most."
Tuesday's event marks the first time the Renault veteran updates investors since taking over from Luca De Meo in July. His predecessor overhauled Renault during his five years in charge, rolling out a slew of new models, returning the company to profitability and inking various agreements with the likes of Geely and Alphabet Inc.'s Google.
Publicly, Provost touted continuity. Yet he spent the first few months in the job reversing several of his predecessor moves -- unwinding the Ampere software and electric-vehicle entity, exiting endurance racing, putting on hold fast-charge investments and discontinuing several mobility services.
A few of those decisions were necessary to correct targets set by De Meo that were overly ambitious, according to people familiar with the matter. But Renault's challenges go deeper than costs.
After posting the fastest sales growth among major automakers in Europe last year, Renault's performance has fallen off a cliff in 2026, with stark declines in several markets in January and February. At the same time, Chinese manufacturers led by BYD Co. are expanding in Europe with the kind of affordable vehicles Renault has long been known for.
In his talks with employees, Provost frequently cites those same Chinese manufacturers as an example for the kind of agility and efficiency Renault should aspire to, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.
"The problem is the speed of the Chinese," Provost said last month at an internal town-hall meeting, explaining that when Renault spends €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) on software-defined vehicles, it costs Chinese rivals only around a fifth of that. "When we need two years to introduce SDV in a new car, now they succeed to do it in less than six months," he said.
Provost considered picking a Geely vehicle architecture over one it's developing with France's Valeo SA for future models, but ultimately decided against that in part because of the controversy it would have involved, said the people. The French government owns a 15% stake in Renault and is wary about ceding technological sovereignty in an industry it views as key.
The CEO recently asked his teams to recalculate costs linked to the R5 compact car, with an eye to potentially swapping some parts for cheaper Chinese alternatives, the people said. He halted some Dacia investments and axed several projects at its sports car-brand Alpine, they said. He put the Alpine Formula One team on notice, saying Renault would exit the competition if performance doesn't improve quickly, the people said.
"Our plan is to be independent in terms of technology in Europe," Christian Stein, Renault's chief communications officer, said in response to queries on the group's strategy. "We need to be capable of understanding what the Chinese benchmark is in terms of pricing and technology so that we too can adapt to that benchmark by producing locally in Europe."
Renault has relied on its Chinese R&D operations and parts from the country to develop the sub-€20,000 electric Twingo. Provost has pledged to use those lessons learned, with labor unions awaiting details as to whether this will have implications for jobs in France.
The location of Tuesday's strategy day is the 1970s Technocentre complex west of Paris. Provost has asked managers to spend most of their time there, leaving some of them frustrated, the people said.
Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard has been publicly backing Provost, saying he's the right person to turn things around.
"Renault is well managed today," Senard said in an interview last month with BFM Business. "Our new CEO is doing exactly what he should be doing."