In a sudden move, Honda revealed on Feb. 23 that Takanobu Ito, the company's CEO, is stepping down in late June.
After holding the position of CEO for six years, the 61-year-old Ito will be replaced by Takahiro Hachigo, a 55-year-old managing officer for Honda.
Honda, the third-largest automobile manufacturer of Japan, has recently been going through a rough stretch over the previous year. There have been problems in the quality of its products, which have led to several recall orders to be issued for its vehicles.
Ito became the Honda CEO back in 2009, back when the car industry was in the middle of recovering from a devastating global financial crisis. The years that followed did not prove to be easy at all for Honda, as the launch of the Civic that year turned out to be a disappointment. At the time, many were speculating that Honda had "lost its edge."
It did not help that natural disasters occurring in Thailand and Japan took a hard hit on the company's production and profits.
Ito has been hard at work over the previous three years, shaking up the tightly knit but decades old supply chain of Honda, as the automobile manufacturer looked to cut down on costs and discover new cutting-edge technology that it can incorporate into its vehicles.
Ito's moves of disrupting the company's supply chain were predictably met with disdain by Japanese suppliers, causing several retired executives of the company to make headway in having Ito removed from his post, according to sources that informed Reuters of the matter.
The mounting pressure from the series of issued recall orders, including the several millions of vehicles that were recalled due to the defective air bags supplied by Takata, did not help Ito's cause.
The inflators of defective Takata airbags can potentially explode, sending shrapnel to the passengers of a vehicle when the airbag deploys.
While Ito is stepping down from his position as the company's CEO, he will remain within the company to become an adviser.
Hachigo, one of the engineers that worked on the CR-V crossover and the U.S. Odyssey minivan, is skipping several ranks to claim the CEO post after the annual shareholders' meeting of Honda to be held in late June. Hachigo has been with the company since 1982, with his career taking him to locations such as the United States, Britain and China.
Hachigo was formerly the senior VP for Honda R&D Americas before becoming a managing officer.
