Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced that Takahiro Hachigo, currently the company’s Managing Officer, will become Senior Managing Officer effective April, and will become President, Chief Executive Officer, and Representative Director in late June 2015. Meanwhile, current President, CEO, and Representative Director Takanobu Ito will remain onboard as Director and Advisor to Honda Motor.

Hachigo is a vastly experienced man joining Honda in 1982 and began his career in automobile research and development operations, principally as an engineer in the area of chassis design. Hachigo was in charge of developing the first-generation Odyssey which was launched in 1999 and the second-generation CR-V in 2001.

During the six years of Ito’s leadership, Honda was able to actively evolve its global manufacturing structure, notably the establishment of automobile plants in Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, India and China. Also under Ito’s leadership, Honda succeeded in solidifying its business foundation by enhancing its product development capabilities from the N-series mini-vehicles in Japan to automobile powertrain development as represented by Earth Dreams Technology.

Furthermore, Ito has led to a resurgence of “fun-to-drive” vehicles including the S660, Civic Type-R, and NSX which are scheduled to be launched during the fiscal year ending March, 2016. Likewise, Ito was instrumental in Honda’s return to Formula One and foray into aviation with HondaJet.