(May 30, 2011) Renault SA has appointed Carlos Tavares, Nissan's top executive for the Americas since 2009, as its new chief operating officer. Tavares will fully assume his new duties by July 1, Renault said in a statement today. The development of French production sites will be "a priority," the carmaker said.

Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said Tavares' "talent and experience will be key strengths for Renault and for all its employees as we go into the first year of our Renault 2016 -- Drive the Change program." Tavares replaces Patrick Pelata, who stepped down in April over his role in a botched industrial espionage investigation.

Nissan said Colin Dodge, executive vice president and chief performance officer and chairman of the automaker's Africa, Middle East, India and Europe unit, will take on the additional post as head of the Americas region, succeeding Tavares. The change is effective June 13.

The automaker also named Bill Krueger to the post of vice chairman for Nissan Americas, a new role, effective June 13. Krueger will be Nissan Americas' highest-ranking resident executive and will report to Dodge.

Carlos Tavares

Krueger will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of Nissan Americas' business in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil and 37 other Latin American and Caribbean countries.

"Bill Krueger has demonstrated the business acumen and leadership qualities necessary to take on the added responsibilities required of a resident vice chairman," said Dodge.

Krueger, 46, most recently served as senior vice president for manufacturing, purchasing, supply chain management and customer satisfaction for Nissan Americas.

Prior to joining Nissan, he held several management posts at Toyota's manufacturing plants and served as general manager of the automaker's Georgetown, Ky., plant.

He previously held management roles at General Motors' Janesville, Wis., assembly plant and at Harley Davidson's Utilimaster Corp.

The French government, Renault's biggest shareholder with a 15 percent stake, has been pressing Renault take a clearer lead in its alliance with Nissan, in which it owns a 43.4 percent stake, Bloomberg News said earlier today.

Ghosn will increase his involvement at Renault, and the No. 2 position will be slightly reduced from the full daily operational oversight that the CEO had ceded to Pelata in 2008, Bloomberg reported.

Tavares, a Portuguese national who speaks fluent French and English, spent 23 years working at Renault in engineering and program-management roles before moving to alliance partner Nissan in 2004.

Sourses: Nissan, Bloomberg, Reuters