Petaling Jaya, 19 October 2017 – Honda Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. has announced that its new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Toichi Ishiyama will officially be assuming office on 1 November 2017, succeeding Mr. Katsuto Hayashi, the current Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Toichi Ishiyama will officially assume his new role on 1 November
Mr. Ishiyama, 48, is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited. Mr. Ishiyama’s career spans 25 years in Honda in various roles in Japan, USA, Thailand, China and Pakistan. During his assignments in Thailand and China, Mr. Ishiyama delved deep into understanding local markets in relation to automobiles. With more than 20 years of experience in researching markets and product planning, Mr. Ishiyama’s forte is an advantage for ensuring that Honda Malaysia continues its strong momentum as the No. 1 Non-National Vehicle Brand and the No. 2 brand in overall Total Industry Volume (TIV).
Furthermore, Mr. Ishiyama has indicated that he will continue to focus on total excellence in products and customer experience to emphasise the Joy of Buying for Malaysians. He believes the strategy already put in place by Mr. Hayashi will see Honda Malaysia through to another achievement year, reaching the target of 100,000 units in sales for this year.
During his tenure in Malaysia, Mr. Hayashi had successfully strengthened Honda Malaysia’s position as the No. 1 in Non-National segment and No. 2 in overall TIV and in the process, also attained No. 1 position in terms of market share among Honda automobile operations worldwide in some of those months. Honda Malaysia achieved the highest local market share in history in March 2017, at 20.5%. And for its fiscal year of April 2016 to March 2017, Honda Malaysia recorded sales of 100,000 units and celebrated its historical 600,000th production unit under Mr. Hayashi’s watch.
Mr Katsuto Hayashi
To prepare Honda Malaysia for the next growth phase, Mr. Hayashi had strategically switched focus to offer more advanced technology to Honda customers. Under the theme of Next Generation Advanced Technology, turbocharged engines were introduced to the product line-up last year. The successful introduction of the turbocharged Honda Civic as one of the variants drew much praise for Mr. Hayashi; the Civic is the first mass production Japanese model in Malaysia to be fitted with a turbocharged engine to suit local demand. This focus was further expanded with the launch of the Sport Hybrid i-DCD variants, making Malaysia the only country outside of Japan to introduce the environmental-friendly powertrain that does not compromise the fun-to-drive element of the car.
To date, Honda Malaysia is the leader of the hybrid segment in Malaysia. The company also recently introduced the all-new CR-V with Honda SENSING suite to offer a new level of advanced safety technology. Meanwhile, the all-new Civic Type R 2.0L VTEC Turbocharged, recorded as the fastest front-wheel drive production car, which will be launched soon was also planned under Mr. Hayashi’s tenure. Under Mr. Hayashi’s watch, Honda Malaysia launched five new models and expansion its network by four new dealers. There are now a total of 90 Honda dealers nationwide.
Mr. Hayashi, who led Honda Malaysia for one and a half years, will be assuming a new role as the General Manager, Overseas Operation Division (Americas), Regional Operation (North America) in Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in Japan. We wish Mr. Hayashi the best in his new role and also to welcome Mr. Ishiyama to Malaysia.
Keyword: New Managing Director And CEO For Honda Malaysia From 1 November 2017