Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe must be losing a fair bit of sleep over the Japanese carmaker’s ongoing crisis, and he even came close to losing his job earlier this year. One might assume the mutiny is over since Mibe is still in charge today, but we can’t say he or the company under his leadership are out of the woods just yet.
Apparently, there’s still a fair bit of resentment among executives over how things played out and what decisions were taken. And although Mibe’s most vocal critic in the past has been former CEO Nobuhiko Kawamoto, a different (yet still highly influential) figure is now stepping forward to voice his concerns.
Major Decisions Were Taken Without The Board’s Approval
Honda 0 Series SUV front 3/4 angle in whiteHonda
As reported by Nikkei Asia, board of directors chairman Fumiya Kokubu is dissatisfied with the committee’s limited involvement in decision-making. He claims the board wasn’t consulted ahead of major investments and has instead served more of an observation role, thus hampering its ability to influence Honda’s trajectory. “It is difficult for the board to properly assess what kind of discussions led to the investment,” said Kokubu.
This isn’t a matter of Mibe going rogue, though, but rather a symptom of Honda restructuring its leadership framework in 2021. The changes implemented back then gave executive officers more decision-making authority, and Kokubu believes it is now time for the board to regain its active role in determining how the company is run.
So, Does This Mean Mibe Is In Trouble Again?
Honda 0 Series SUV PrototypeHonda
Fumiya Kokubu didn’t explicitly state that Mibe should step down, but he will be attending executive council meetings to determine how decision-making ought to be conducted in the future. He urges directors to “change their current mindset” and be more involved in governance instead of mere oversight, so as to spread executive authority out more evenly.
This doesn’t seem to place Toshihiro Mibe in immediate danger of being ousted from his leadership position, but it probably won’t help him sleep better at night, either. It’s still unclear how things will unfold over the coming months, and it’s not far-fetched to imagine a scenario where they get worse before getting better. Make no mistake, this is only the beginning of Honda’s arduous road to recovery.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
Honda 0 Series Saloon interior view of the front cabin areaHonda
Given the automaker’s failed EV strategy and its subsequent $2.7 billion annual loss reported back in March (the first in nearly seven decades), influential figures like Kokubu are right to consider how a blunder of this magnitude can be prevented from ever happening again. What this will mean in practice remains to be seen, but Mibe seems to be in the clear at least for the time being. And, quite frankly, his share of the blame for Honda’s woes is up for debate.
Kawamoto had criticized his apparent lack of focus on the Chinese market in the past, but its decline there would’ve likely happened anyway judging by what happened to Volkswagen. And even though it was a mistake to bet so heavily on electrification, few could have predicted such a drastic shift in Washington’s EV policies five years ago. In any case, we will likely hear more about Honda’s leadership structure in the not-too-distant future.
Source: Nikkei Asia
