Honda names former Chrysler exec to steer U.S. marketing

By Mark Rechtin, Crain News Service



LOS ANGELES (Aug. 19, 2011) — American Honda Motor Co. has chosen an outsider and former Chrysler executive Michael Accavitti as its chief marketing officer.



Mr. Accavitti most recently was executive automotive adviser for Cisco Systems, but is better known as the veteran Chrysler executive who was president of the Dodge brand and lead marketing executive of the Chrysler Group before his 2009 departure.



Mr. Accavitti replaces Steve Center, who will lead a new enterprise within American Honda called the Environmental Business Development Office.



Mr. Center has been in Honda’s top U.S. marketing post since June 2008.



Mr. Accavitti inherits an organization that’s battling production shortages stemming from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. American Honda’s U.S. sales have declined 3 percent this year through July in a market that’s up 11 percent.



To retain U.S. customers until stockpiles are replenished, Honda has taken the unusual step of extending leases or offering vouchers or rebates toward the future purchase of a new Honda.



Honda has told its U.S. dealers car and light truck inventories are not expected to return to normal levels until the last quarter or early 2012.



New group

The new environmental group will oversee Honda’s various green business initiatives, from the Fit electric vehicle to solar panel arrays to home co-generation units fueled by natural gas.



“Honda is structured by distribution group, by auto brands, motorcycles, and power equipment.



But these futuristic energy creation groups are transcending those silos,” Mr. Center said in an interview.



With “the dynamics (of) the utility business, you can see that things are starting to break through all the distribution channels,” he added.



Mr. Accavitti first worked for Chrysler starting in 1977. He installed axles on trucks at Chrysler’s Warrren, Mich., truck plant—known as Dodge City—to save money for college. He worked on the line for two years and one summer before starting college.



He rejoined Chrysler in 1984 when the auto maker was hiring engineers and spent time in product marketing, brand management and racing.



At Honda, he will oversee the marketing of the Honda and Acura brands, public relations, auto shows and emerging-markets advertising.



The transition is occurring immediately, although it was announced internally on Aug. 1.

Mr. Accavitti is in the process of relocating to Los Angeles and was not immediately available for comment.



Fresh blood

“You need the fresh blood,” Mr. Center said about the changes. “Fresh thinking is good, but too much and you can lose your culture or focus.”



Last year, Honda extended voluntary retirement offers to certain employees and lost about 50 managers, many of whom had more than 30 years of experience at the company. Center said Honda is “still a very young company.”



Mr. Accavitti will have a full plate awaiting him as Honda strives to recover from the March earthquake.



Because of the earthquake-related inventory crunch that killed the momentum of the spring launch of the Civic, Honda will re-launch the compact car this fall. Also, a redesigned CR-V crossover arrives later this year, and a new Accord comes next spring. Those are three of Honda’s four “pillar” vehicles, Mr. Center said.



Honda brand sales are off 2 percent this year, and Acura sales are down 6 percent.



Like Mr. Center did, Mr. Accavitti will report to Tetsuo Iwamura, president of American Honda. Unlike other auto makers, Honda separates its auto operations—such as product development, product planning and marketing—from auto sales, which covers distribution, wholesale and retail and is overseen by executive vice president John Mendel.



Mr. Center, 54, joined Honda in 1993 as part of Dick Colliver’s team of transplants from Mazda North American Operations. Mr. Mendel was formerly executive vice president and chief operating officer for Mazda North America before joining Honda in 2004.



Mr. Center’s career has included managerial positions in market support, e-business, Acura sales, advertising and public relations.



The Environmental Business Development Office will receive additional staff, but Mr. Center declined to give further details.



He called it “a combination of a brain trust, think tank and venture capital firm.”



Source;

http://www.tirebusiness.com/subscriber/headlines2.phtml?cat=1204552929&headline=Honda+names+former+Chrysler+exec+to+steer+U.S.+marketing&id=1313763465

Honda Motor To Cut Number Of Directors To 12 From 20 - Update

(RTTNews) - Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC: News ) Tuesday stated that its board of directors has decided on a plan for changes in management and board structures. The plan includes reducing the number of directors to twelve from presently twenty.

The plan, which was decided at a board meeting held today, is intended to strengthen the company's management structure amid changes in the economic environment.

The planned changes are subject to shareholders' approval at the general meeting to be held in late June 2011 and a decision at the board meeting to be held immediately thereafter.

According to the company, in 2005, it had implemented an operating officer system to strengthen the execution of regional and on-site operations and to carry out appropriate management decisions. In that system, a structure was established to differentiate the roles between directors and operating officers.

Honda Motor today said it will designate all of the directors who have business execution roles, including the president, as operating officers. In conjunction with these changes, titles such as senior managing, managing, and the like will be attributed to officers within the operating officer system.

Further, the company will elect a member from the operating officers as a candidate for director.

This member will be responsible for deciding matters provided by law and for monitoring and supervising business execution, in order to speed-up and streamline board's decision making. This member will also respond to the requests of shareholders and investors.


As a consequence of these changes, the number of directors will change from twenty to twelve in late June this year. Meanwhile, the company will maintain the number of corporate auditors at five.

In addition, in order to align with the beginning of the business year, the time of assumption of office for operating officers will be changed to April 1. It was late June earlier.

HMC closed Friday's trading at $44.49, up $0.12, on a volume of 496,400 shares.

Source;
http://www.rttnews.com/Content/BreakingNews.aspx?Id=1558176&SM=1