Peugeot North America CEO Larry Dominique, who has been main the French model’s deliberate return to the U.S. after a 30-year absence, has been named the North America head of Alfa Romeo.

The transfer, introduced Friday, is a part of a world reorganization of the Italian model. Alfa and Peugeot are actually a part of Stellantis, the corporate created by the January merger of Fiat Chrysler Vehicles and PSA Group.

Dominique has been main Peugeot’s deliberate U.S. return for 4 years. A part of his cost has been to create a distribution channel that may shun costly shops and emphasize the usage of know-how to dump some consumer-facing companies akin to scheduling car supply and pickup.

It is unclear what the appointment means for Peugeot’s U.S. comeback.

That return was sophisticated by PSA’s December 2019 settlement to merge with FCA. And simply earlier than the completion of the merger two months in the past, Carlos Tavares — the previous PSA chief who now leads Stellantis — signaled that the plan could shift.

Dominique’s efforts have been praised by Tavares, together with his plan for an asset-light distribution mannequin.

“That is one thing that, most likely, we’re going to use, not particularly within the U.S. market, however possibly in one other area of the world,” Tavares informed Automotive Information. “However I believe that modern pondering of that undertaking has been very useful.”

After the merger was accomplished Jan. 16, Dominique stated planning for Peugeot’s return to the U.S. had not modified. The aim was for a launch within the U.S. and Canada round 2023.

Now, Dominique will take the helm of a model that has been displaying indicators of life within the U.S. Alfa Romeo’s gross sales grew 1.6 % in a market that fell 14 % final 12 months, however volumes are low for the Giulia sedan and Stelvio crossover. Two new crossovers are quickly anticipated to spice up the Alfa lineup.

Earlier than becoming a member of PSA, Dominique was president of ALG, an organization that gives the trade with car valuations. He had additionally spent 22 years at Nissan and Infiniti, the place he was vp for product planning and technique for Nissan Americas. Throughout a portion of his tenure there, Tavares was chairman of Nissan North America.

Dominique’s background is in electrical engineering. He started his profession in engineering roles, first at Basic Motors after which at Chrysler.

Urvaksh Karkaria contributed to this report.