Takanobu Ito: Honda CEO

Takanobu Ito was born in August 29, 1953 in Tokyo, Japan. He graduated from Kyoto University and joined Honda in 1978 as an R&D Engineer. Takanobu rose through the ranks and held various positions of importance along the way. He has been an executive of Honda R&D since 1998 and was promoted to President and Director of Honda R&D in April 2009. Previously Takanobu had been appointed Senior Managing Director of Honda R&D in June 2001, after Director of the company in June 2000, following the position as Executive Vice President of Honda R&D Americas, Inc. since April 1998.   

By the time he was appointed to the Board in 2000 he was already well known in the automobile industry as “the engineer behind the legendary Honda NSE supercar of the 90s”.  He assumed the top post of CEO, President and Representative Director of Honda in June 2009.

Takanobu became CEO in very challenging times during the financial crisis. The year 2011 wasn’t as good either given the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan. There have also been quality issues raised about Honda cars. He has been working hard in making a major transition to keep Honda among the pack leaders in the car industry. 

A Solid “Car Guy” At The Helm

There are some executives who excel in marketing yet do not have a thorough understanding of the technical side of a product. For Takanobu Ito he is one executive who has a good understanding of what it takes to make a car while at the same time has had international exposure and understands the all important U.S. market.

Ito was appointed as president and CEO of Honda Motor on June 2009. He has risen through the ranks first joining Honda as an R&D engineer specializing in chassis design in 1978. He was the individual who presided over the original Acura NSX aluminum frame development.  Ito has also held key managerial roles in developing small JMD cars in the early 1990s. He was also executive vice president for Acura from 1998 to 2000 giving him solid U.S work experience.

Ito’s exceptional talent is clearly seen in the positions that he holds. Aside from being president and CEO he is also the president and director of Honda R&D.  Thus he had a direct hand in what goes on at research and development which can be more tuned in to the future direction of the whole company which he is guiding.

Ito has had challenging years especially when the 2011 earthquake hit Japan which affected both supply and sales. He has since gone about redesigning a lackluster Civic and overhauled some of the internal manufacturing systems.  That’s the advantage he brings of being a solid “car guy”.