Former Seat design boss heads to Renault, report claims

Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos could reunite with former Seat CEO Luca De Meo at French car maker

Seat design director Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos will follow his former colleague Luca De Meo to join Renault, reports suggest. 

Automotive News Europe is reporting that a source close to the matter has confirmed the move. When contacted by Autocar, Renault declined to comment on the reports.

However, a statement from Seat said: "Seat confirms that Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos has left the company at his own request, and we thank him for his excellent work heading up the design division for the past nine years. The new head of the Design area will be announced in due course. In the meanwhile, the executive vice-president for research and development, Dr [Werner] Tietz, will lead the design team.”

The 52-year-old Spaniard is said to be joining Renault to “strengthen the design team”, with the report suggesting he would be managed by current Renault Group design boss Laurens van den Acker.

Former Seat president De Meo left the Spanish company back in January but has started his tenure as Renault Group CEO only this month. He was in charge of the Volkswagen Group brand’s operations for five years. 

Mesonero-Romanos first joined Seat's design department in 1995, where he worked on the Bolero concept car of 1998. He joined the Volkswagen Group's European design centre in 1996 to work on Audi, Seat and Volkswagen models before moving to Renault in 2001.

At Renault, he worked on designs such as the Laguna Coupé. His final move before rejoining Seat in 2011 was to South Korea as the design director of Renault Samsung Motors. 

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