When many of us think of the Renault Nissan Alliance, Carlos Ghosn immediately comes to mind, but it was his predecessor as CEO, Louis Schweitzerwho orchestrated Renault’s seemingly difficult rescue of Nissan.
Mr. Schweitzer died last week at the age of 83.
Louis Schweitzer was born in Geneva (Switzerland) in 1942 and was a member of a prominent family from Alsace (France). He was related to the philosopher and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre and was the great-nephew of Albert Schweitzer, a doctor, theologian and musician who won the Nobel Prize in Philosophy in 1952.
His father was part of the Resistance during World War II and later became head of the International Monetary Fund. After earning degrees from the Paris Institute for Political Studies (Sciences Po) and the National School of Administration, Mr. Schweitzer followed in his father’s footsteps and entered public service.
In 1981 he came to the attention of François Mitterrand’s government and became chief of staff to Budget Minister Laurent Fabius. He followed Mr Fabius in various roles, including prime minister, in the Mitterrand government and became embroiled in a number of scandals.
Mr. Schweitzer was indicted for his role in the state blood bank and later acquitted of knowingly distributing AIDS-infected blood to hemophiliacs, many of whom later died as a result of the infusions. He also consistently denied any prior knowledge of the plan to sink the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior plane in Auckland Harbor.
However, he was found guilty in a wiretapping case at the Elysée Palace and given a suspended sentence.
In 1986 he left the Mitterrand government and joined Renault, which had been under state control since its nationalization in 1945. After CEO Georges Besse was assassinated by Action Direct, a communist guerrilla group, in late 1986, Mr. Schweitzer was named chief financial officer.
He was later named deputy CEO before becoming the automaker’s CEO in 1992. His first years at the helm were uncertain, with merger negotiations with Volvo failing in late 1993 and Renault’s profits declining.
With Volvo seemingly out of balance, the French government gave the green light to privatize Renault in 1994, and the task fell to Mr. Schweitzer, who oversaw a wave of corporate nationalizations during his time in the Mitterrand government.
After Renault was privatized in 1996, Mr. Schweitzer hired Carlos Ghosn from Michelin as the automaker’s head of purchasing, manufacturing, development and research and as its South American CEO. “Le Cost Killer” and his radical restructuring medicine brought the company back into the black and laid the foundation for the next stage.
With heavy debts, a sea of red ink and a range of vehicles that were charitably described as bloated and boring, Nissan was in a sorry state and its continued existence was continually called into question.
After talks with DaimlerChrysler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler, failed, Renault stepped into the breach by offering Mr. Schweitzer not a takeover but an alliance that respected the two companies’ different cultures.
In March 1999, Renault acquired a controlling stake of 36.7 percent in Nissan and gained control over the composition of the board. The two companies later established a formal alliance company to manage joint development, procurement and production operations.
Mr. Ghosn was sent to Nissan as its new chief operations officer and quickly set about closing plants and streamlining the product line.
By year’s end, Renault also acquired a majority stake in Romanian automaker Dacia, hoping to turn it into a low-cost brand based on Renault’s modern platforms and manufacturing techniques. In early 2000, Renault bought Samsung Motors and renamed it Renault Samsung.
At the time, Renault’s acquisition spree seemed fraught with risk, particularly given the company’s experience with AMC in the 1970s and 1980s, but Mr Ghosn managed to quickly get Nissan back on its feet. He not only became a cult hero in Japan, but also Nissan’s first foreign CEO in 2000.
In 2005, Mr. Ghosn also took over the role of CEO of Renault and Mr. Schweitzer resigned as Renault’s chairman.
After resigning from Renault, he was appointed by then President Jacques Chirac as the first chairman of the French Commission for Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discrimination. He also sat on the boards of major corporations, cultural institutions and nonprofit organizations, including animal rights groups.
