French group Renault has appointed Jean Phillipe Salar to take over as general manager of the Renault Design Central Europe (RDCE) in Bucharest. He replaced Geoffrey Gardiner, who was promoted to design director of Renault-Nissan’s Technocentre in France, at the beginning of September

Jean Philippe Salar, 42, has 19 years of experience with Renault during which he contributed to developing several of the group’s models, including Twingo, Clio 3, Scénic, Trafic 2, Fluence, Mégane cabriolet, Mégane break, and the new Kwid.

As general manager of the design center in Bucharest, he will coordinate the developing of the new Duster model, and Renault Kadjar.

“I came to Romania with lots of enthusiasm and motivation to work with the RDCE team. This 30-people team, which includes all the creative professions, is known for the design of the Dacia models, as well as Kadjar and Alpine Vision Gran Turismo,” Salar said.

He added that besides creating new models, in line with future trends, the center he runs will also have to improve the perceived quality of the developed vehicles.

Jean Philippe Salar has a master’s degree in transport from the Strate Ecole de Design. He has worked in several Renault design centers in Barcelona, Kiheung (South Korea), and Mumbai (India).

The Renault Design Central Europe in Bucharest was established in 2007. The center is part of Renault Technologie Roumanie, which also has an engineering center in Titu, close to Bucharest. Renault Technologie Roumanie had EUR 130 million revenues and 1,650 employees last year.

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editor@romania-insider.com