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Bloomberg
Mazda Motor Corp. named Akira Marumoto its next chief executive officer to lead a revival in earnings growth in the face of a slowing US market.
Marumoto, an executive vice president who heads operations in the US, will replace Masamichi Kogai after the change is ratified at an annual shareholder meeting on June 26, Mazda said. Kogai will become chairman following a five-year tenure in which he orchestrated deeper ties with Toyota Motor Corp. Both of Kogai’s most recent predecessors as CEO also served five-year terms.
The leadership changeover comes amid a paradigm shift in the auto industry towards self-driving, connected and electric cars, and the rise of China’s importance as the US auto market shrinks. Mazda is among Japan’s most export-dependent automakers, with less than a fifth of revenue generated at home.
Marumoto will oversee a target to raise annual sales to 2 million vehicles by 2024, from about 1.6 million now. China became Mazda’s biggest market last year after sales in the US shrank close to 10 percent from a peak in 2015. Operating profit has dropped by more than a third from a record in the fiscal year ended March 2016.
Marumoto said he will focus on reviving the US.
“I’ve been overseeing the North American market for three years and the region has been causing concerns in terms of both profitability and branding,’’ Marumoto said at a briefing in Tokyo to announce the change. “The US is the highest priority.’’
Shares of Mazda advanced 1 percent to 1,463.5 yen at the close in Tokyo, giving the company a market value of about $8.5 billion.
The stock has declined about a fifth during Kogai’s tenure as the company struggled against intensifying competition and the accelerating pace of technological change.