[TusharK]

Mr. Gaku Nakanishi has been appointed as the new President & CEO of Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL). The current President and CEO, Mr. Yoichiro Ueno, who has held the post since 2016 will hand over charge to Mr. Nakanishi on April 1, 2018.



Mr. Gaku Nakanishi has been with Honda for almost 30 years. Since 2015, he has been President & CEO of Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co. Ltd. He has worked in several markets including North America, Mexico, Japan, Thailand and has also worked with the overseas division for CIS, Middle East & Africa and Asia & Oceania regions.

Meanwhile, Mr. Yoichiro Yeno will move to New Business Strategy Division, Business Development Supervisory Unit in Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

Link to Team-BHP News

[GTO]

Originally Posted by TusharK

The current President and CEO, Mr. Yoichiro Ueno, who has held the post since 2016 will hand over charge to Mr. Nakanishi on April 1, 2018.

Poor guy. What CEO can possibly do anything in 2 years. It would take months to just understand a company and the market from the CEO's point of view.

Hope Gaku Nakanishi has a longer run. To-do list should include:

1. Bringing Honda's mojo back. Don't compromise on the core values of your brand - related thread.

2. Unwavering focus on quality. Leave the cheap cost cutting to Datsun.

3. Making Honda a relevant player in the premium segments too. At one time, the Civic, CR-V & Accord were the no.1 sellers in their respective segments. How times have changed. Honda is now almost invisible in any segment above the City.

4. Be a first-mover in technology. Honda has tech internationally that it can bring here - the landscape is changing with 'electrified' vehicles. Heck, the last innovation we saw from Honda was 20 years back with 'Vtec bro'. Absolutely NOTHING post that.

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by GTO

Poor guy. What CEO can possibly do anything in 2 years. It would take months to just understand a company and the market from the CEO's point of view.

Hope Gaku Nakanishi has a longer run. To-do list should include:

Very valid points. Now, if someone can translate these into Japanese and share with Mr. Nakanishi. And the link to the thread must also be sent to him, with request to get it translated by his own team.

Hopefully, then he can understand how hopeless Honda has been in India over past decade.

[deepfusion]

Originally Posted by GTO

Poor guy. What CEO can possibly do anything in 2 years. It would take months to just understand a company and the market from the CEO's point of view.

Hope Gaku Nakanishi has a longer run. To-do list should include:

1. Bringing Honda's mojo back. Don't compromise on the core values of your brand - related thread.

2. Unwavering focus on quality. Leave the cheap cost cutting to Datsun.

3. Making Honda a relevant player in the premium segments too. At one time, the Civic, CR-V & Accord were the no.1 sellers in their respective segments. How times have changed. Honda is now almost invisible in any segment above the City.

4. Be a first-mover in technology. Honda has tech internationally that it can bring here - the landscape is changing with 'electrified' vehicles. Heck, the last innovation we saw from Honda was 20 years back with 'Vtec bro'. Absolutely NOTHING post that.

A company is made or broken by its human assets. With the current position at its integrated manufacturing facilities, the less said the better.

So, not much should be expected.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by GTO

Poor guy. What CEO can possibly do anything in 2 years. It would take months to just understand a company and the market from the CEO's point of view.

An ET article on similar lines:

The Indian passenger vehicle subsidiary of the Honda Motor Corporation has changed its president and CEO twice in a span of just three years while four times in the last six years. While the Japanese Auto major’s Indian two-wheeler subsidiary has changed only three presidents and CEOs in the past eleven years.

Industry experts feel that such a frequent change at the top leadership level impacts the company’s performance as there is no adequate time for the executive to understand the market and implement a new strategy.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by GTO

2. Unwavering focus on quality. Leave the cheap cost cutting to Datsun.

3. Making Honda a relevant player in the premium segments too. At one time, the Civic, CR-V & Accord were the no.1 sellers in their respective segments. How times have changed. Honda is now almost invisible in any segment above the City.

Absolutely! In the not so distant past the City used to be their entry level model, with all the above mentioned models doing well in the upper segments. Even the sales dud 2nd gen Jazz was a real quality product. Now in the last few years the City is their flagship with many localised (read made cheap) models below that.

[jaaz]

Desicion making is very slow and they are unable to catch up with the current trends. Premium should not only be just in pricing, but also in features and innovation.

Instead of leading the pack, Honda India is just catching up with others in terms of technology. R & D in India is as good as non existent. Hope the new CEO takes cognisance of the laggardness to bring cheers on Customers who buy their Cars.

P.S: City is the only exception.

[arunramaswamy]

How tough is it to align the vision of the Indian arm with that of its parent, which is to be a premium brand not just in price but in quality as well? I feel there is a disconnect between both the Indian subsidiary and the parent company. Toyota got it spot on. Hence it has never been about volume for Toyota but it is all about profits and margins. Honda just has to follow the same principle and play to its strength.

[GTO]

This man was the face of Honda India. Jnaneswar Sen quits - link.

The Indian subsidiary of Japanese carmaker Honda Cars India is going to see a major overhaul in the company management. Jnaneswar Sen, senior VP - Marketing & Sales, Honda Car India, has resigned from the company, industry sources confirmed ETAuto.

Sen confirming about his movement and said he will be pursuing his personal interest.