Takanobu Ito

Hans Greimel of the Automotive News is reporting that Takanobu Ito will be replaced in June by Takahiro Hachigo as president and CEO of Honda Motor Company. Ito’s replacement comes after a spate of recalls in its home market of Japan led to a delay in a number of new product launches, followed by the even more image corroding recall of millions of cars worldwide due to Takata supplied airbags that can detonate which have been linked to six deaths.

Ito in happier days

As changes in the Japanese and global markets force Honda to become less focused on Japan, Hachigo brings ample international experience to the job. He started his career at Honda in 1982 as a chassis design engineer in Honda’s automobile research and development department. In the 1990s he was assigned to Honda’s North American operations where he headed the development of the first generation of U.S. built Odyssey minivans, launched in 1999. With the success of the Odyssey, he was promoted to senior VP of Honda R&D Americas, localizing Hondas and Acuras for the American and Canadian markets. After a stint back in Japan in r&d, purchasing and then managing the Suzuka assembly plant, in 2012 he was named VP and director of Honda Motor Europe, later heading Honda’s European r&d center in the UK. Since 2013, he’s been in China, running Honda’s r&d, purchasing and motor technology team in that important market.

Takahiro Hachigo, Honda’s incoming president and chief executive

Ito will remain with Honda as an adviser and member of the firm’s board of directors.

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can get a parallax view at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS