Replacing Shinzo Nakanishi, Kenichi Ayukawa will be the new Managing Director and CEO for Maruti Suzuki. His term will begin from 1st April 2013.
Suzuki Motor Corporation Chairman Osamu Suzuki himself attended the board meeting in which the decision was taken to replace Shinzo and the position was given to Kenichi. Shinzo has been on the post for the past 6 years, and has been in association with Maruti since 1982 from its inception. Over 30 years Shinzo has been at various posts including Chairman, when Jagdish Khattar was MD.
Shinzo became MD in December 2007 succeeding Khattar. Kenichi has been is association with Suzuki European Operations. The board approved his appointment only today.
According to sources Kenichi joined Maruti Suzuki in 1980 and has held various posts including treasurer in American Suzuki Motors. At the Pakistan unit, he was General Manager for overseas and marketing and Managing Director.
This is also going to be a hard time for Kenichi as he is going to take post at a time when Maruti is in its worst ever industry – wide snail run. Now only time will tell whether Kenichi will be able to pull the ship out of the berg and set sail.
The auto giant’s Indian sales during the month of February 2013 witnessed a drop of around 9 per cent y-o-y to 97,955 vehicle units.
The company’s overall sales thus far in 2013 (Apr-Feb) remained up by 4% to Rs.10.51 lakh vehicle units, aided by sturdy demand for its newly rolled out Ertiga multi-utility car as well as the compact DZire, which has counterbalance lethargic demand for mini vehicles (sales down 12%), vans (down 23%) and mid-size SX4 (down 65%).
In a statement, Maruti Suzuki stated, “The board of directors of the auto firm at its gathering which took place on March 15, 2013, has nominated Kenichi Ayukawa as the new MD and CEO in place of Shinzo Nakanishi. The new chief executive officer and managing director will start his duty from April 1, 2013, on the latter having attained the retiring age.”