Personnel Articles , ,

In charge: Hiroyuki Shimizu arrives at Honda Australia with 27 years’ experience with the company, mostly in sales, marketing and product planning.

HONDA Australia has reshuffled its top management deck with a new managing director and CEO, Hiroyuki Shimizu, flying in and the promotion of Carolyn McMahon to finance director – a move that sees her become the first female director at the Australian subsidiary of the Japanese car-maker, which was established here in 1969.

General manager of technical and supply, Matthew Evans, also now becomes general manager of aftersales, which encompasses technical and supply responsibilities.

Replacing company veteran Sherif Ziada who retired last Friday after almost three decades of service, Ms McMahon brings 22 years’ experience with Honda to the position, most recently as company secretary and general manager of business services – a role she retains with her promotion to the board of directors.

Carolyn McMahon

Previous positions held by Ms McMahon include general manager of dealer business, general manager of sales and marketing, and southern and western regional manager, along with various other roles across business services, administration, fleet and Honda Advanced Rider Training (HART).

Mr Shimizu has arrived at the beginning of the new Japanese financial year (April 1) to replace Noriyuki Takakura, who is relocating to Laguna, south of Manila, as managing director of Honda Cars Philippines after four years at the head of Honda’s Australian car import and sales operations based at Tullamarine in Melbourne.

With 27 years’ experience with Honda, mostly in sales, marketing and product planning, Mr Shimizu was previously senior vice-president and director of sales and marketing at Honda Cars India Limited, a position he took up two years ago after moving from an equivalent position at Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co Ltd.

Sherif Ziada

Mr Takakura came to Australia in 2013 to replace Satoshi Matsuzawa, who after a three-year stint was returning to Japan to become managing director of the company’s charitable arm, The Honda Foundation.

Mr Ziada has more than 30 years’ experience in the automotive industry, with the past 27 spent in finance with Honda Australia.

As well as his role as finance director, Mr Ziada served as a trustee on the board of the Australian chapter of the Honda Foundation alongside fellow company director Stephen Collins.

In a statement, Mr Collins said the changes to the management team would help ensure the company’s “resourcing and capabilities were best placed to continue to move the business forward”.

“2017 represents an enormous opportunity for Honda Australia,” he said.

“We’re launching three important new vehicles – Civic hatch, CR-V and the Civic performance halo, the Type R – so it’s critical to our business to have the right organisational structure that best serves our company goals and also ensures that our ongoing priority is the customer.”

By Terry Martin

Noriyuki Takakura

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