9:23 am, February 25, 2013
HONDA UK has appointed a new managing director – Phil Crossman.
Crossman moves from his post of general manager, cars – a position which he held for the past two years – and takes over the top role from Dave Hodgetts.
Hodgetts’ new post is european regional auditor for Honda Motor Europe (HME), and he takes up the position on April 1. He will be responsible for the business performance assessment of 27 markets in the European Region as well as those in Middle East, Russia and Africa.
The role will also encompass Honda’s six manufacturing facilities within Europe and eight logistics operations. Reporting to HME’s chief operating officer, Manabu Nishimae, the Japanese firm says Hodgetts’ new appointment ‘will play a key part in Honda’s five year European strategy to create a strong, autonomous regional operation, building on “best practice” in all areas and strengthening Honda’s European business performance overall’.
Commenting on his new role, Hodgetts said: ‘Since joining Honda (UK), I have particularly enjoyed working with our diverse dealer network in the UK and am proud of the strong working relationships that have been achieved with our dealer partners.
‘The new role will encompass the whole of Honda’s extended European region and will give me a great opportunity to better understand the diversity of these different operations and assess the issues that Honda must tackle in order to be successful in both mature and emerging markets.’
