Honda Motorcycle names Minoru Kato as India President and CEO

New Delhi: Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt Ltd (HMSI), the local two-wheeler unit of the Japanese automaker, has appointed Minoru Kato as president and chief executive officer, the company said in a statement on Monday.

Kato, who replaces Keita Muramatsu from 1 April, has 29 years of experience working at Honda Motor Co. He has expertise in production control, motorcycle planning, and sales across Europe, Japan, and South-East Asia. He started his career in Honda Japan in 1988 in the production control division of automobile operations at the Saitama plant. Kato has served as CEO of Honda Vietnam Co. Ltd since 1 April, 2014.

Muramatsu, who led Honda’s Indian two-wheeler operations for six years, will now become executive vice president at American Honda Motor Co Inc. Under his leadership, India became the number one contributor to Honda’s two-wheeler sales globally for the first time in 2016.

Under Muramatsu, HMSI doubled its market share from 13% to 27% and rose from fourth position to becoming the second largest two-wheeler company in India in six years.