Honda's Promise

Many readers may know that Honda has taken quite a beating lately on its new vehicle introductions, ranging from the CR-Z, to the Insight and more recently, the 2012 Civic. Honda's president, Takanobu Ito wants to change that and is doing so by explaining the faults of the past and how he's going to change these faults.

In an interview with The Nikkei, Ito explains that Honda's previous product planning method was made up of 6 regional operations responsible for their own region. Whenever Honda as a whole developed a product for the global market, they listened to every one of the 6 regional operation supervisor. This created problems wherein Honda watered down vehicle characteristics to increase the mass-market appeal. Ito admits that when you harmonize all the different opinions from the 6 regional operations, you end up with a safe and boring car.

Under Ito's reign, he changed the system by appointing three corporate officers to supervise the development of luxury, midsize and compact vehicles. He asked these officers to create more competitive vehicles and increase communication between product planning and regional operations. He says that the fruits of his achievements will be shown to the world beginning next fiscal year.

Ito says that those fruits include cars that will be both environmentally friendly and safe along with cars that are highly distinctive. Sporty driving characteristics will be incorporated into the DNA of every Honda vehicle.

In an effort to move away from Honda's dim present, Ito's plans are the light on the horizon.