Honda, the Japanese automobile manufacturer is adopting an aggressive strategy to boost its business in India. Management level changes have been made by the company, which will be effective from April 1, 2012. Honda Siel Cars India officially announced the transfer of current President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Takashi Nagai and Marketing Director Seki Inaba. The company has also removed the single head post for Honda's multiple domestic businesses, which include gensets and two wheelers.
The previous Chief of Taiwan operations, Mr. Hironori Kanayama will replace Mr. Takashi Nagai as the new chief of HSCI. Serving as a top executive in China, Mr. Kanayama has gathered 8 years experience. Apart from component arm, Honda Motor India, Mr. Nagai was responsible for handling the complete operations in the entire South-West Asia region. However, Mr. Kanayama will not look after other departments of Honda and will concentrate solely on the local car business.
Honda has appointed Mr Shigeru Yamazaki as the new Senior Vice-President and Director, Sales & Marketing. Mr. Yamazaki, who has been serving Asian Honda, will take the position of Mr. Seki Inaba. “Honda is entering a new phase of growth in India and there is a focus on HSCI from the headquarters. A need was felt to appoint executives with experience in handling volumes,” a source close to the development said.
By 2012-13, the Japanese automobile manufacturer targets to achieve sales of around 1 lac units, doubling its existing figures. With the help of its Brio and Jazz, the company expects to establish its position as one of the largest car makers. According to many experts, two new diesel engines, a smaller engine for the hatchbacks, and 1.6 litre engine for City and Civic would also help in the growth process.
“It has been decided that for now at least there will be no overall head for Honda, but the individual business heads will manage by themselves. At HSCI, the plan is to completely use the 1.2 lac annual capacity at Greater Noida and see how the second Tapukara car facility can be activated,” the source said.
The year 2011 has not been smooth for the company in terms of sales. Production of Honda vehicles has been affected greatly due to shortage of components, owing to the major earthquake in Japan in 2011, which was followed by Thai floods in the same year. Between April and December 2011, HSCI's sales dripped to 27 per cent to 32,771 units due to these factors. However, full fledged production started only from February 2012
