Naohiro Yamaguchi has taken over from Takashi Kikuchi as the new managing director of Isuzu Motors India.
Isuzu Motors India has restructured its senior management. Naohiro Yamaguchi, who was general manager, LCV sales project, Isuzu Japan will now take over as managing director for India operations. He was one of the key members of the India project team at Isuzu, Japan.
Yamaguchi will bring his rich experience in the area of sales operations and strategy to India and will further accelerate Isuzu’s growth in the country, as it gears up towards its full-fledged operations in India by 2016.
Yamaguchi, says, “Knowing the growing demand for high-quality, Isuzu has the right setting to offer its world-class products to customers in India. Towards this, Isuzu is already well on its way to establishing a strong organisation, world-class processes and systems to offer the Indian customer the benefit of high quality.”
Hiroyasu Miura who was executive officer and executive in-charge of manufacturing engineering planning, vehicle manufacturing and new business development at Isuzu Japan, is the new chairman at Isuzu Motors India. He will be responsible for product engineering and development.
Miura’s global expertise in product engineering as the company plans to add robust products to its portfolio in the future.
Taizo Nakahigashi, senior vice-president, Isuzu Motors India will take over as the CEO, Isuzu Hicom Malaysia. The changes in the management is as per the business plans of the company.
Takashi Kikuchi will take-over as president of Isuzu Motors, Thailand and also assume the role of senior executive officer at Isuzu, Japan. However, he will also continue as the part-time board member at Isuzu Motors India.
Kikuchi has been instrumental in setting up Isuzu Motors India. Since its inception in 2012, he has successfully driven the initial phase of Isuzu operations in India. Under him, IMI has successfully established the strength of Isuzu products in key segments and continues to provide a new dimension to products in the market in the Pick-up and SUV segments.
Key achievements of Kikuchi include the tie-up with Hindustan Motors for the assembly of CKDs, fast-progressing construction of the new IMI manufacturing plant at SriCity, in Chitoor district of Andhra Pradesh, tie-ups with several Component Suppliers towards IMI’s goal of localisation and fast expanding dealership network comprising 18 dealership outlets as on date.
Kikuchi says, “With the strong focus on quality, Isuzu will make a very interesting impact in the Indian automobile industry. While I shall be taking over a new responsibility, I will be keenly watching the progress at IMI in my capacity as part-time board member of IMI and otherwise. Also, as I shall take-over the charge of Isuzu’s manufacturing plant in Thailand which is the principle manufacturer of Isuzu Pick-up Trucks and SUVs, globally, I look forward to supporting the Indian operations in all ways.”
With a strong focus on class-leading Japanese production methodologies, Isuzu lays much emphasis on a very robust production system in India, to ensure very high standards of quality. Towards this end, the intensive experience of Miura will add a special dimension of focus towards standards in Production and Quality Control.
