Honda President Ito To Step Down, Engineer Hachigo Named Successor

TOKYO, JAPAN - FEB. 23: Honda Motor Co. said Monday Takanobu Ito will step down as its president in June, and as his successor he has picked engineer-turned executive Takahiro Hachigo who pledges to maintain Ito's reform drive at a difficult time. Japan's third-biggest carmaker has been mired in quality problems over the past year, including the global recall of vehicles equipped with potentially lethal air bag inflators supplied by Takata Corp. Ito, 61, who is to become a company adviser and remain on Honda's board, will be succeeded by 55-year-old managing officer Hachigo following the company's annual shareholders' meeting in June, the company said. Honda will operate "as a team under a new young leader," Ito told a press conference, where Hachigo said he will lead the company to "continuously release challenging products and technologies." Ito became Honda president in June 2009, when the auto industry was struggling to recover from the 2008 global financial meltdown and ensuing Great Recession. "That was when our business environment significantly changed," Ito said, recollecting his six years at the helm, during which Honda's production and earnings were also badly affected by natural disasters, including the massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan as well as floods in Thailand. Ito has reorganized Honda's global supply chain to cut costs and develop competitive products and technologies more efficiently. "We have continued with our challenges, enhancing (Honda's) production and development around the world," Ito said. "We have completed our preparations for Honda to make a leap forward," he added, referring to the timing of the management shift. Hachigo said he will "further evolve" Honda's global manufacturing system with plants in Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, India and China.