Minoru Kato appointed as president and CEO of HMSI
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) today announced the appointment of Minoru Kato as its new president and CEO from April 1, 2017. He takes over from Keita Muramatsu who will take over his new responsibility as executive vice president at American Honda Co. Keita, the current president and CEO has held office for six years now. Kato started his career in Honda Japan from 1988 in production control division of automobile operations at Saitama plant.
The company states that during the tenure of Keita Muramatsu, Honda 2 Wheelers was a strong contributor to Honda's two-wheeler sales globally in 2016. In line with the Make in India plan, the company expanded its manufacturing facility from one in 2010-11 to four plants in 2016-17. Even in terms of sales, the company recorded a growth of 200 per cent, from 16.56 lakh units (FY'10-11) to the proposed 50 lakh units (FY'16-17). This in turn also helped increase the market share from 13 per cent to 27 per cent, thereby making it the 2nd largest two-wheeler company in India.
On the other hand, from 1994 to 1998, Minoru Kato shifted to motorcycle operations at the headquarter in Japan where he was involved in planning followed by domestic sales in the country. In 2011, Kato moved to the UK as the CEO of Honda Motor Europe Co., Ltd. In his last assignment before taking over his new role in India, Minoru Kato was the CEO of Honda Vietnam
