Takanobu Ito
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He joined in April 1978 and came up through automobile body design, becoming a Director in June 2000, Managing Director in June 2003 and Senior Managing Director in June 2007. He served as Chief Operating Officer of the Automobile Operations and became Representative Director and President in June 2009. The promotion came 31 years after he joined, and he had neither blood ties to the founding family nor a shareholding to back him.
Selection
In June 2009 he succeeded Takeo Fukui as President. In the fiscal year ended March 2009, just before, the Lehman shock of September 2008 cut consolidated operating income by 80% from ¥953.1 billion the year before to ¥189.6 billion, and net sales fell from ¥12,002.8 billion to ¥10,011.2 billion. The United States, which had earned roughly 70% of company-wide profits in 2007, had stalled, and the flagship Civic carried sales incentives of about $300 per car from March 2007 and about $500 in April.
Initiatives
In July 2013 he started operations at the Yorii plant of the Saitama Factory. Domestic automobile production was now split between two sites, the Sayama and Yorii plants, and the inefficiency of keeping both became a burden. Consolidated net sales were ¥7,948.0 billion (U.S. GAAP) in the fiscal year ended March 2012, and revenue was ¥13,328.0 billion in the FY ended March 2015, when IFRS was adopted, with operating income of ¥644.8 billion that year. In China, gasoline vehicle production expanded through two joint ventures, GAC Honda and Dongfeng Honda.
Career
Career
Honda Motor
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Apr 1978 | Joined |
| Jun 2000 | Director |
| Jun 2003 | Managing Director |
| Jun 2007 | Senior Managing Director |
| Jun 2009 | Representative Director, President |
| Jun 2015 | Director, Senior Advisor |
| Jun 2015 | Stepped down as President |
Honda R&D
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Jun 2001 | Senior Managing Director |
| Jun 2003 | President |
| Apr 2007 | Stepped down as President |
| Apr 2009 | President |