Honda's New CEO Is Also Chief Innovator

Washington DC July 29, 2009; The AIADA newsletter reported that as Honda announced plans in mid-July for its 2010 hybrid vehicles, the company introduced a leader with a hybrid role: Takanobu Ito, its new president and chief executive, who is also Honda's director of research and development.

Business Week reports that the decision to take on multiple roles while steering the automaker through the worldwide downturn is strategic. In Ito's news conference on July 13, his first in the new role, he delineated how he will steer product development: Find out what customers want, and then cater to those desires as quickly and affordably as possible.

He cited Honda's new hybrid car, the Insight. Ito has had a long history in both engineering and management at Honda. He joined the Tokyo-based company in 1978 as a 25-year-old engineer; he was first assigned to Honda R&D.

In that role, one of his most noted innovations was designing an all-aluminum chassis, or body frame, for the NSX sports car. It was the first to be mass-produced by any automaker.

Over the years, Ito held a variety of posts at Honda. He was executive vice-president of the Honda R&D operation in the Americas from 1998-2000, broadening his perspective.

More recently, he had been chief operating officer of Honda's automobile operations. Click here to read more about Honda's new CEO, Takanobu Ito.