In a very surprising move, the Chief Executive Officer of Honda Motor Co. Ltd Takanobu Ito has announced that he will be stepping down from his key position, and will be replaced by a low-profile but experienced engineer. His replacement will take over the role as Chief Executive Officer of Honda Motor Co. in late June 2015.
Takanobu Ito joined Honda in 1978 at the automobile research and development operations, mainly as a chassis design engineer. The highly-acclaimed Honda NSX’s all-aluminum uni-body frame structure had Ito as the person in charge of development. In June 2000, Ito became a member of the Honda Motor Board of Directors, and later on took the role President and Director of Honda R&D, General Manager of the Suzuka Factory. He became the CEO of Honda Motor in June 2009. Takanobu Ito will be replaced by Takahiro Hachigo, currently the Managing Director of Honda Motor. Ito will remain as an advisor to Honda.
The person taking helm from Ito is Takahiro Hachigo. He joined Honda in 1982 and started his career at the automobile research and development sector. The Honda CR-V’s success can be traced back to Mr Hachigo, as he was the one in charge of the development of the Honda CR-V back then. From April 2004 to March 2006, Mr Hachigo took helm as the Senior Vice President of Honda R&D Americas, Inc., with him overseeing the local development of Honda and Acura models. The role of the Managing Director was promoted to him in April 2014.
