Honda Will Replace Chief in a Global Sales Slump

[admin]

The president and chief executive of the Honda Motor Company, Japan’s second-largest automaker, will step down in June, making way for younger leadership amid a sharp slowdown in global car sales, the company announced Monday.

Takanobu Ito, 55, an engineer with American experience, will succeed Takeo Fukui as president and chief as part of a management shuffle, Honda announced. Mr. Fukui, 64, will remain as an adviser.

Like other carmakers, Honda has been battered by a global slump in sales. The company’s profit plunged 90 percent in the October through December quarter as car and motorcycle sales declined and a strengthening yen eroded profits.

Still, Honda has fared somewhat better than its larger Japanese rival, the Toyota Motor Corporation, in part because of its focus on smaller, cheaper cars like the Accord sedan. It has also moved quickly to address the global downturn, pulling the plug on its popular Formula 1 racing team and cutting production in Japan and North America.

Last month, Toyota announced that its president, Katsuaki Watanabe, who has held the job since 2005, would be succeeded by Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Kiichiro Toyoda, who founded the company in 1937.

Though Honda will probably post its first loss in at least 15 years this quarter, it expects to eke out an $856 million profit for the fiscal year ending March 31.

Mr. Ito had been widely seen as a likely candidate for the top job at Honda.

Mr. Fukui oversaw Honda’s push into the American market. He supervised Honda’s entry into the small jet market and started the Insight hybrid.

Mr. Ito, who joined Honda in 1978, began his career developing sports cars. He was vice president at Honda R&D Americas, where he brought Honda’s first sport utility vehicle under the Acura brand to market.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/busin ... honda.html