Head of Honda Plant in Ohio Moves Higher

In a move that may signal an even greater “Americanization” of Honda, Shoichiro Irimajiri, the head of Honda’s U.S. manufacturing complex in Ohio, has been promoted to run all of Honda’s worldwide manufacturing operations.

Irimajiri, 48, rumored within Honda to be in line for the presidency of the Japanese giant, will return to Honda’s Tokyo headquarters to oversee all of Honda’s auto, motorcycle, and power equipment operations.

Irimajiri’s return to Tokyo will add to the growing influence at Honda headquarters of those executives with extensive experience in the company’s burgeoning American operations. Unlike Toyota and Nissan, Honda sells far more cars in the United States than it does in Japan, and so exposure to the American market seems to have become an important career stepping stone for Honda executives on the rise.

Three senior executives at Honda have worked in the firm’s American division. Koichiro Yoshizawa, one of two executive vice presidents, is a former president of American Honda. Two senior managing directors, Kazuo Nakagawa and Tetsuo Chino, have also spent time here. Nakagawa ran the Marysville, Ohio, operations before Irimajiri, while Chino was head of all American operations until he returned to Japan to head up Honda’s Tokyo-based North American division and also to oversee Honda’s worldwide administrative functions.

Among the seven managing directors, just below the senior managing director level, two have worked in America: Irimajiri and Yoshihide Munekuni, currently living in Los Angeles as president of American Honda.

Unlike executives at some other Japanese auto companies, many Honda officials seem comfortable in the United States. Both Chino and Irimajiri, for instance, speak excellent English. Irimajiri is affectionately called “Iri” by Americans who work for him, while Chino often speaks of how much he enjoyed living in Los Angeles while he was running Honda’s American operations.

Irimajiri, an engineer with a deep interest in auto racing, joined Honda direct from the prestigious Tokyo University; like so many Japanese executives, he is a company lifer.

He became something of a legend within the Japanese auto industry when, relatively early in his career, he helped develop the CVCC engine, the motor that turned the Honda Civic into a worldwide best-seller.

Under Irimajiri, Honda has become America’s fourth-largest auto maker virtually overnight. The company now has the capacity to build 360,000 cars here annually, along with hundreds of thousands of engines, transmissions and other components. Now, Honda is in the process of building a second assembly plant near its first.

“This new assignment is due to the rapid growth of Honda’s worldwide manufacturing operations, including those at Honda of America Manufacturing,” Irimajiri said.

Replacing Irimajiri in Marysville this summer will be Hiroyuki Yoshino, 48, also a Tokyo University graduate, who has been manager of Honda’s huge Suzuka assembly plant in Japan.