Tha Honda Motor Co. promotes its current head of research and development Toshihiro Mibe to the chief executive, the latest in a number of bold moves the manufacturer is taking to a step beyond relying on more than fifty years on selling gasoline power. cars.
Mibe, 59, will effectively take over the presidency on April 1, the company said in a statement Friday. Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo, who has backed the company for six years, will become a director on that date and then resigned from the company at their general meeting in June.
Honda ‘s new chief executive gets the lead as the Japanese manufacturer pushes to keep up with the two major shifts affecting the automotive industry: automation and electrification. Since joining Honda in 1987, Mibe has taken on a number of roles, including as head of Honda’s R&D subsidiary, where he was at the heart of driving electric vehicle technologies. and autonomous driving strategies.
Honda, like most legacy makers, is struggling to find ways to finance next-generation electric and driverless car technologies while keeping sales of gas-powered cars afloat. Hachigo, who took up the post in 2015, sought to move away from previous initiatives prioritizing scale to focus on costs. Under his leadership, Honda dominated several factories in Japan and abroad.
“Honda has worked to consolidate existing businesses and prepare for future growth. My job is to accelerate, ”said Mibe, speaking at Friday’s briefing. Honda has previously tried to do everything internally, but with the company making one-off changes in time, “time is of the essence and I would choose alliances and insights out to speed up our movement, ”he said.
In the past few months, Honda has taken several steps to reallocate resources to next-generation technologies. In September, they formed an alliance with General Motors Co. to collaborate in areas such as research and connected car services. Next month, Honda announced it will no longer participate in Formula One racing, trying to redistribute resources to EV development and fuel cell technologies.
Honda, which aims to electrify two-thirds of its global car sales by 2030, has passed a difficult 2020, a time when vehicle sales were crushed by pandemic-related outages. It is aiming for an operating profit of ¥ 520 billion ($ 5 billion) for the 12 months through March, down about 18% from the previous year.
The automaker is also grappling with a chip shortage that is forcing manufacturers around the world to maintain their output just as car demand begins to recover. The semiconductor shortage is thought to knock 500,000 units off the output of mostly Japanese carmakers in the first half. Within Japan, Honda is estimated to bear most of these losses.
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