Honda Appoints Takashi Nakajima as President and CEO of Honda Cars India

Honda Motor Company announced on Monday that Takashi Nakajima has been appointed as the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Honda Cars India (HCIL), effective from April 1. Takuya Tsumura, though, is set to replace Nakajima upon Honda's regular annual reshuffle of its management ranks.

After a three-year stint in India, Tsumura will return to Japan to take up a new assignment at headquarters in Honda.

Hailing from a rich 30-year tenure at Honda, Nakajima became President of Honda Motor Russia in 2021. He has also worked in business, product planning, marketing, and sales promotion in various markets like Japan, China, Spain, and the Czech Republic.

As reported by media sources attributing to Honda, Tsumura played a part in strengthening the premium brand image of the carmaker in the country along with focusing on customer-centric initiatives and profitable growth during his three-year sojourn in India. He was instrumental in the introduction of several high-end models like the Amaze's third generation, the global SUV Honda Elevate, and India's first mainstream hybrid, the Honda City e:HEV.

This management overhaul fits well into the company's strategy of introducing a battery electric vehicle based on the Elevate SUV coupled with two more power-packed hybrid contenders. It is gearing up for launching on its electrification journey in the coming fiscal. The company is also running a venture towards ACE (Asian Compact Electric), which is the compact electric vehicle project, and is expected to wind up by the next year with 50-70% of the expected production strangled for export.

Currently, Honda Cars India is marketing the Amaze, City, and Elevate models in the country. The carmaker has sold 53,081 units in India from April to January this fiscal year, controlling just 1.5% of the market, and exported 50,866 units.