Honda names Ito as new chief executive

Honda Motor said today Chief Executive Officer Takeo Fukui would step down in June, to be replaced by Senior Managing Director…

Honda Motor said today Chief Executive Officer Takeo Fukui would step down in June, to be replaced by Senior Managing Director Takanobu Ito in a widely expected move amid a global crisis in the auto industry.

Mr Fukui (64) will complete six years at the helm and become an executive adviser to Honda as it, like the rest of the industry, faces a frozen credit market that has sent sales skidding.

Mr Ito (55) is currently in charge of automobile operations, having followed a career track that many saw as leading to the top post. Like Fukui, he previously headed Honda R&D Co, the carmaker's research arm.

“Honda is at its core a fun company, where we hope customers buy cars with the same enjoyment we have in making them,” Ito told a news conference. “I want to raise motivation so that we have fun again.”

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Among other achievements, Mr Ito, an easy-going and outspoken engineer, is credited for developing the world's first mass-produced all-aluminium-body car, the NSX sports car, which went on sale in 1990.

He joined the automaker in 1978, coaxed by company officials who told him that someday Honda might make planes, which were Ito's passion.

Mr Ito takes the reins from Mr Fukui, a motor racing fan who announced in December that the firm would pull out of Formula One racing, at a critical time.

Automakers everywhere are grappling with plunging sales and Honda will be fighting an uphill battle against losses in the new business year from April, as a strong yen adds to the pain when profits are repatriated.

“It's precisely because times are so tough that I thought we should overcome these times under a young leader,” said Mr Fukui.

The Japanese currency traded around 93 per dollar today. It hit a 13-year high near 87 per dollar in January.

Reuters