- Noriya Kaihara named Director, Executive Vice President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC).
- Kazuhiro Takizawa to become president & CEO and director of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) and the chief officer of Regional Operations for North America
Honda today announced changes to its top executive leadership in North America, effective April 1, 2024.
Noriya Kaihara, who currently serves as president & CEO and director of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM), the chief officer of Regional Operations for North America and the director and senior managing executive officer for Honda Motor Co., Ltd, will become Director, Executive Vice President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC).
Succeeding Kaihara as president & CEO and director of American Honda will be Kazuhiro Takizawa. Mr. Takizawa is currently executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., (AHM), and the vice chief officer of Regional Operations for North America.
Kaihara has served as American Honda CEO since 2021. Prior to that role, he spent much of his career prior to that in after-sales service in Japan and North America. Kaihara spent two years at Honda Canada, from April 2002 to April 2004, then joined American Honda in service operations from 2004 until April 2008. Upon returning to Honda Motor, he held a variety of positions within the motorcycle and automobile businesses, including parts and service, quality assurance, purchasing, customer service and the company's Customer First operations. Kaihara became an operating officer of Honda Motor in 2013, and a managing officer in 2018.
Takizawa joined Honda in 1990, with his first role in the European Automobile Sales Division of Honda Motor Co. He has held a variety of positions across global regions, including in automobile sales for Honda Motor Europe in the U.K., Honda Motor Co. Domestic Automobile Sales Division, South America Automobile Sales Division, general manager of automobile sales for Honda Motor de Argentina S.A., president of Honda del Peru S.A., general manager of the Automobile Division Asian Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (ASH) in Thailand, president & CEO of Honda de Mexico S.A., de C.V., and general manager of the European Automobile Division, of the Europe, Africa and Middle East Regional Operations. Takizawa assumed his current position with American Honda in 2023.
Honda in North America
Honda established operations in North America in 1959. Today, the company employs about 42,000 associates in the region engaged in the development, manufacturing, sales and service support of Honda and Acura automobiles, Honda power equipment, Honda powersports products and the HondaJet Elite II advanced light jet.
Based on its longstanding commitment to build products close to the customer, Honda operates 18 major manufacturing plants in North America, working with over 750 suppliers in the region to produce a diverse range of quality products. Honda has built automobiles in North America for 40 years and, in 2022, more than 99% of all Honda and Acura automobiles sold in the U.S. were produced in North America.
Honda also conducts research and development activities at 23 facilities in North America where we fully design, develop and engineer many of the company’s North American-made products.
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