The CEO of Honda is stepping down and will be replaced by the head of R&D in China

Honda has unexpectedly announced today that Takanobu Ito, president and CEO of the brand since 2009, will step down from his post next June after receiving approval at the shareholders’ meeting that month. His successor will be Takahiro Hachigo, 55, who holds the position of Vice President of R&D in China.

Ito thus concludes a presidency marked by several controversial and negative episodes for the image of Honda. The most recent and serious of these has been the Takata airbag crisis. The Tokyo-based brand has borne the brunt of the scandal: thirteen million vehicles recalled worldwide, the largest number of any manufacturer affected, and it is also the only one to which fatal accidents have been linked, six in total.

On top of the airbag problems came the economic crisis of recent years, the earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck Japan in 2011, the flooding in Thailand that same year, which forced Honda to halt its activity for months, unfavourable fluctuations in exchange rates for Japanese brands, quality defects in certain models such as the new Fit hybrid (Jazz in Europe), and a policy of cost cutting in the production chain that has angered several local suppliers in Japan, among others.

From this summer, Ito will remain as director and advisor on the board of directors of Honda. His successor, Hachigo, joined the manufacturer in 1982 as a chassis design engineer and has extensive experience not only in China, but also in the United States and Europe. This executive is mainly known for having participated in the creation of the first generations of the Odyssey and the CR-V, launched in 1994 and 1995, respectively.

Source | Honda
Via | Reuters