During the approximately six years since he ascended to the presidency in 2015, in the face of a period of great transformation of the company’s business environment, Hachigo (lead photo, right) took the initiative and formulated Honda’s 2030 Vision to enable Honda to become “a company society wants to exist” into the future. For the fulfilment of the company’s 2030 Vision statement – “to serve people worldwide with the joy of expanding their life’s potential” – Hachigo led Team Honda on a course to “solidify existing businesses” and “prepare for future growth.”

Under Hachigo’s leadership, Honda has increased efficiency and strengthened its operating structure in the areas of production and product development. Moreover, by pursuing the “selection and concentration” of its corporate resources on a global basis, a solid foundation for the future was established, preparing Honda to take off in the new era.

Mibe (lead photo, left), who is set to assume the presidency in April, joined Honda in 1987 and has been primarily focused on the research & development of automobiles, particularly powertrain development. In 2019, Mibe became the President and Representative Director of Honda R&D Co., Ltd., and since 2020, Mibe has been concurrently serving as Senior Managing Director of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Moving forward, Mibe said he wanted to use external alliances to speed up the automaker’s growth.

“We would consider using external insight or potential alliances among other actions to make decisions without hesitation,” Mibe said for Honda’s “major transformation at great speed.”

Honda in the past has sought to do everything internally, but as the company faces once-in-an-era changes, “time is of the essence and I would opt to use alliances and external insight to accelerate our shift,” he said.