Honda Motor Corporation's newly appointed chief executive officer Takahiro Hachigo is making a vital shift from the company's traditional philosophy and aims to bring it back to its roots with more focus on technology and top quality products.
The past few years has been a struggle for Honda as the company faces several problems ranging from vehicle recall due to malfunctioning airbags to faulty electrical transmission on its hybrid cars. In his first press appearance as Honda's CEO, Mr. Hachigo said that he will steer away from the policy of expansion and manufacturing growth instead focusing more on bringing back the top-quality cars Honda was famous for.
Mr. Hachigo said, "Instead of a numerical target, my top priority is building Honda-like products that deliver dreams to our customers. We need to strengthen communication with people on the ground."
According to The Wall Street Journal, Honda has ditched the sales target plan for 2017. Analysts credited Honda's sales decline to the rapidly deteriorating quality of its vehicles.
Mr. Hachigo's predecessor, Takanobu Ito, steered the company to produce more vehicles per year. This strategy has caused a lot of stress in Honda's workforce as engineers are forced to spent overtime hours in order to meet deadlines. However, despite the effort provided, the company's engineers failed to develop new technologies that can compete with its rivals in the industry.
According to the Financial Times, Honda is expanding its operation as far as Africa. The company plans to produce 1,000 units of the Honda Accord in Nigeria on an annual basis.
For many industry analysts, Mr. Hachigo is facing a tough job ahead and the 56-year-old CEO needs to accept the possibility of setting alliances with other car manufacturers in order to utilize the company's excess in production capacity.
Mr. Hachigo said that he is open for possible alliances as long as it helps the company and its customers.