Jacques Prost, currently head of Renault’s small car development, will replace Kazumasa Katoh, as head of powertrain engineering on 1 January 2007 and will report to Jean-Louis Ricaud, executive vice president, engineering and quality.

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Katoh will take a new position back at Nissan Motor in Japan.


Prost joined Renault in September 1978 as an engineer in the engine department and headed Alpine Studies from 1985 to 1990.


From 1990, he was engineering project manager for the Laguna, then director in charge of technical resources and prototypes at the powertrain engineering department (1994), manager of the Renault Cléon plant (1997) and X85 project manager (2002). He became VP director i programme (small cars – B segment) at the beginning of 2005.

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