Brieux named head of Ampere’s ElectriCity hub
Anne-Catherine Brieux is a Renault native and has been with the company since 1997. As of this week, she will be responsible for Ampere’s four industrial sites. Specifically, these are Douai, Maubeuge and Ruitz, which form the ElectriCity hub, and the Cléon industrial site. Brieux will also be responsible for Ampere’s purchasing, quality, production technology, supply chain and IT functions. The previous VP Industrial Operations – Luciano Biondo – is leaving the group. After working for PSA and Toyota, he joined Renault in October 2020 to set up the industrial centre in northern France, which employs around 5,000 people and is dedicated purely to the production of the brand’s electric vehicles, bringing together the Douai, Maubeuge and Ruitz plants. Luciano Biondo was appointed General Manager of Renault ElectriCity on 1 January 2022 and had been VP Industrial Operations at Ampere since November 2023.
“I would like to thank Luciano for his commitment since he joined the group in 2020. He has been a tremendous asset in the implementation of our Electricity hub and in enhancing the group’s presence in northern France,” said Josep-Maria Recasens, COO of Ampere. “The transformation of our four sites towards electric is a key step to support the electric and ‘Made in France’ strategy. I wish him much success in his new projects. I am very pleased to welcome Anne-Catherine in Ampere. Her background in industry, quality, and supplier managementmakes her the right person to carry the industrial excellence of our company.”
Brieux joined Renault in 1997 after graduating as a production engineer at the Cléon plant. She worked in engine design and development for twelve years before moving to production in 2011. After working as deputy plant manager at the Cléon plant, she took over the management of the Renault Motores plant in Valladolid, Spain, in 2017 and then the management of the Palencia plant. In 2023, she became Director of Quality Strategy, Suppliers and Development within the Renault Group’s Quality Department.
At Ampere, she is tasked with driving forward the goal of producing around one million electric vehicles for the Renault brand by 2031. Renault relies on the ElectriCity hub and will combine its combustion and hybrid car business (including Dacia and other light commercial vehicles) with that of Geely in the Horse project. The focus will be on markets outside of Europe, particularly Latin America, India, South Korea and North Africa.
As far as upcoming product launches are concerned, the all-electric R5 will be the first this year. The electric R4 (the study still bears the name ‘4EVER’) will follow in 2025, and the new Twingo Electric in 2026. Ampere is planning a total of seven electric models by 2031. The division expects to achieve price parity with vehicles with combustion engines by 2027/2028 with the second generation of the Megane E-Tech Electric and Scenic E-Tech Electric while maintaining the same margins.
Until now, the idea has been to use a standardised battery cell with a more cost-effective or performance-oriented NMC cell chemistry. Renault always emphasised the better price-performance ratio and a better residual value during recycling compared to other cell chemistries. At the beginning of July, however, the French company announced that it was moving away from this line and opening up to LFP technology. The first models with LFP batteries from CATL or LGES on board are expected to be launched in early 2026.
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