Jacques Aschenbroich has not had the leisure to follow the cold transmission of power between Gérard Collomb and Édouard Philippe, live from the Place Beauvau. The CEO of Valeo was too busy, in the morning of 3 October, at the motor Show of Paris, to detail to the press the technological innovations of the company over which he presides. The message is clear. Valeo is on all fronts of the future of the automobile : the autonomous vehicle, the electrification of the vehicle and mobility digital. Then, the resignation of Collomb… This Lyonnais, who left his hometown at the age of twenty years to build his studies in the capital, do not risk the no comment policy. On the eve of the public opening of the Salon, Jacques Aschenbroich has presented the 48V (volt) is the prototype of a golf cart, urban electric and affordable, capable of reaching 100 km/h and with 150 miles of range. It has also lifted the veil on Vaelo Drive4U, autonomous car demonstration in Paris intra-muros, which works with a host of sensors to ultra-sounds, cameras, radars and onboard intelligence. Gray suit too large, a red tie, air wise and focused, which fits perfectly to an engineer of the corps des Mines.
outside of its Apple Watch, Jacques Aschenbroich, 64 years of age, did not draw a casual to a boss star of the high-tech. Yet this is what he made of Valeo, a nugget technology in the automotive sector… of the evidence, The stand of the oem’s even become a major attraction of the living room of the electronics of Las Vegas, which is very popular Gafa. Last year, Jacques Aschenbroich, however, for a natural, discreet, has come to be identified : he has won everything, or almost, in the category ” prize awarded to a patron. “Strategist of the year 2017 to Echoes, winner of the leadership award, BFM Award of the strategist, digital and most importantly – recognition to the supreme – the prestigious Harvard Business Review has ranked the fourth boss, the most powerful in the world ahead of his fellow frenchman Bernard Arnault and Martin Bouygues…
” I’m good in latin, ”
Before taking the head of Valeo (” I’m good “, in latin), at the age of 55 years, Jacques Aschenbroich has already accumulated many professional experiences. This son of an architect, whose great-great-German father had left Aix-la-Chapelle France in 1870 – has taken his classes in the administration in the Lorraine region, and then to the Datar. In 1987, the engineer becomes the technical advisor for industrial affairs to the Prime minister of the time, Jacques Chirac. He then moved to the very respectable glassmaker Saint-Gobain, under the command of a very charismatic and influential Jean-Louis Beffa. It is located next to the future big names of the industry, Pierre-André de Chalendar (now CEO of Saint-Gobain), Philippe Crouzet (Vallourec), Jean-Dominique Senard (Michelin). He climbed the ranks, is sent by post in Germany and the United States. It is one of the potential successors of Beffa. But the adventure that Saint-Gobain does not end as expected… Aschenbroich is compelled to resign at the end of the year 2008 : the group of glass-making is condemned by the european Commission to pay a hefty fine – almost 900 million euros – for the constitution of a cartel on the market of auto glass.
The heads should fall… Aschenbroich, even if he claims not to have committed any fault, was president and CEO of Saint-Gobain Glazing between 1996 and 2007. It assumes and resigns of its functions. The fiftieth anniversary was not the time to point to the unemployment. Thierry Morin, CEO of Valeo, is transferred by its board of directors. On march 21, 2009, Jacques Aschenbroich integrates Valeo, a manufacturer of components for vehicles, as director-general. This is not really a gift… It is the epicenter of the crisis, the worst quarter for the automobile industry. The oem loses 2 million euros per day. Jacques Aschenbroich remains quiet, scanning the company, identifies a potential technology exceptional, and then decides to play shy. It removes the 11 branches and 135 divisions, to create a 4-pole.
long-time Friend of… Charlelie Couture
But it invests primarily in the technology of the car of tomorrow, boosted research and development spending. And puts the package on the China. The machine starts up again, sales are exploding. This father of three children transforms an oem dusty, near-bankruptcy, a flagship of the tech. The company becomes the first filer of patents in France and China, the first country in the group, in terms of turnover. Valeo, which is back in the CAC 40 in 2014, has registered last year a turnover of 18.7 billion euros, and has shown in recent years a growth of approximately 10% per year ! The number of employees increased from 45,000 to more than 110,000 today… Radars, cameras, sensors, lidars, etc ” We are the eyes and ears of the car, but also his brain “, said the CEO of Valeo, who did not hesitate to criticize violently the political anti-car of the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo.
today, Valeo is well located in the heart of the technological revolutions and sells its technology to all car manufacturers of the world. Aschenbroich, who rolls up in a BMW 7 Series, in its version hybrid rechargeable, encounter as well-Elon Musk, leaders of Google and Baidu that the chinese manufacturers, German or French. Valeo employs thousands of researchers, with a hundred people who work in the artificial intelligence for the automotive applications. “We need to recruit the best in this area. This has led us to change our habits, our culture. But to attract the punters in the field, it is necessary to enable them to continue their academic work, to publish in scientific journals. This openness to the academic world is not in the DNA of the engineers… ” explains the CEO, long-time friend of the musician Charlelie Couture…
given a dinner party at the Elysée palace, on Monday evening, with a who’s who of the automotive industry in france and the world, Jacques Aschenbroich has pleaded with the president Macron the cause of France. Paris can be a centre of attraction world on artificial intelligence. It is necessary to attract Google, Facebook and Uber in the Hexagon. In the meantime, Valeo has not finished to invest in order to advance ever more quickly. “If the robots taxis, which will be all the time the same route, Roissy-Paris, for example, it is really for tomorrow, the car is 100 % self-sufficient, capable of handling all driving situations, will not roll forward ten to fifteen years. “
