New Mazda Motor President: Mazda Motor Corp....

New Mazda Motor President: Mazda Motor Corp. said Friday that Toshio Wakiya has been appointed president of Irvine-based Mazda Motor of America, the company’s U.S. importer and distributor of its cars and trucks.

Wakiya, 51, succeeds Yoshinori Taura, 53, who has been promoted to assistant senior managing director in charge of all of Mazda’s sales and marketing activities outside of Japan. The changes are effective immediately.

Mazda Motor of America has 1,300 employees nationwide, including 840 at its Irvine headquarters.

Wakiya, who has been with Mazda for 28 years, will move from the company’s Hiroshima headquarters in Japan, where he has been general manager of Mazda’s North American sales and marketing division.

“You always like to have someone who has experience in this marketplace,” said Jay Amestoy, spokesman for Mazda Motor of America. “We are very pleased.”

Taura, who has been with Mazda’s U.S. operation since it was founded in 1988, will move back to Hiroshima. Most Mazda executives moving up through the ranks serve a U.S. tour of duty of three to five years, Amestoy said. Taura has been with Mazda for 31 years.