Japan's second-largest car maker Honda, struggling with falling sales amid the global economic downturn, said today that it would replace its president and chief executive officer in June.
Senior managing director Takanobu Ito will replace Takeo Fukui as CEO and president, the Tokyo-based company said. Fukui, 64, will remain on the board and serve as director and advisor to Honda.
Honda Motor was the only major Japanese car maker to forecast a profit for the current fiscal year that ends in late March. But it said last month that its net profit had dived 89% in the October-December quarter as demand for cars slumped.
Honda logged a net profit of 20.24 billion yen ($226m) for the three months to December, sharply down from 200.01 billion yen in the same time a year earlier.
It slashed its annual earnings forecast by more than half and said it would dramatically reduce output in the coming months.
Honda reported a 5.1% drop in car sales in the quarter to 940,000 units, but it said it was able to remain profitable, in part thanks to solid motorcycle sales.
