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| Newly appointed president of Japanese car maker Honda, Takahiro Hachigo,
left, speaks next to current president Takanobu Ito during a press
conference at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Feb. 23, 2015. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images) |
TOKYO — Reuters
Honda Motor Co Chief Executive Takanobu
Ito will step down in late June after six years in the top post and be
succeeded by Managing Officer Takahiro Hachigo, a low-profile engineer
with global experience, the company said in a surprise announcement on
Monday.
Japan’s No.3 auto maker has hit
a rough patch over the past year with quality problems that have led to
multiple recalls of its popular Fit hybrid subcompact, which Ito
conceded earlier this month could have been caused at least in part by
an aggressive sales target.
Such self-inflicted setbacks had been
compounded by multimillion-vehicle recalls to replace air bag inflators
made by top supplier Takata Corp that have so far been linked to six
deaths, all in Honda cars.
For the past
three years, Ito, 61, a feisty former supercar engineer, has shaken up
Honda’s decades-old, tightly-knit supply chain as the auto maker sought
to trim costs and find more cutting-edge technologies. That has
predictably rankled local suppliers, and some retired Honda executives
manoeuvred to have Ito removed, sources have told Reuters.
“I
think this move is an attempt by Honda to tread a different course,
with someone who upholds harmony,” said Takaki Nakanishi, a veteran auto
analyst and CEO of Nakanishi Research Institute.
A
former senior Honda official said he was surprised by Monday’s
announcement. Hachigo had been widely expected to join Honda’s board,
but “like many inside Honda, I’d thought Ito was ready to continue as
CEO at least for another term.”
The former official said he thought Ito’s resignation was his own decision.
Hachigo,
who worked on the popular U.S. Odyssey minivan and CR-V crossover,
would skip several ranks to become CEO after Honda’s annual
shareholders’ meeting in late June. He joined the company in 1982 with a
career spanning several countries including the United States, Britain
and China. He is currently Vice President of Honda’s R&D arm in
China.
Ito, 61, became CEO in 2009 as
the auto industry was licking its wounds from a crushing global
financial crisis. The ensuing years were no easier, as a disappointing
launch of the Civic model caused many to question whether Honda had lost
its edge. Natural disasters in Japan and Thailand also hit production
and profits hard.
Ito will remain on the board and become an adviser to Honda.
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