Hiroshi Shimizu will leave HCPI starting APRIL 1...

[tidus1203]

IMO that's very good news... Under Hiroshi Shimizu Honda lost sales and market share, lost its #3 status to Hyundai. And the products have become stale while competition keeps on improving... And it seems they are very unsensitive to market trends and demands under him...

The current president and general manager of Honda Cars Philippines, Hiroshi Shimizu, is finally ending his Manila tenure effective April 1. And apparently, this is welcome news to everyone involved--from HCPI staff to Honda dealers. Shimizu has completed his four-year tour of duty after arriving here in 2007. The motoring press first met him at the launch of the present-model CR-V, in which he was endorsed by his predecessor, the widely-liked Takashi Sekiguchi.

Now, why is this newsworthy?


Since Shimizu took over, Honda has faded in the background in our market, even taking a back seat to Korean carmaker Hyundai, which overtook it last year as the Philippines' number three car company based on unit sales. Honda's sales dipped so low that last year--when CAMPI declared a 27.2-percent overall growth for the Philippine car industry--Honda's 12-month sales actually went down from 17,168 units in 2009 to 16,604 in 2010. The HCPI president's critics were quick to blame his lack of belief in marketing and also his propensity for safe sales projections. The first saw HCPI cutting back big-time on its advertising and marketing spending, while the second resulted in a shortage of units for fast-selling models.


To Shimizu's credit, however, there are several defenders who insist that HCPI actually became more profitable under his watch. They say he did this by eliminating unnecessary expenses and doing away with ridiculous sales promos that the competitors had always employed.


In the end, whether Hiroshi Shimizu did Honda Cars Philippines more harm than good (or more good than harm) is debatable. We suppose the best way to answer this is by taking the poll below. As for HCPI and Honda dealers? We guess the general sentiment is best summed up by this statement given by one HCPI employee: "We don't want to celebrate; the date of effectivity falls on April Fool's Day."

http://www.topgear.com.ph/news/honda...hip-on-april-1

[Starex_Gold]

Ok yan

Good News :thumbup:

[Ry_Tower]

Whomever will replace him will surely have his hands full! Hindi pa nga nag-pe-peak Hyundai eh. Then consistent pa performance ng Toyota at MMC so far. Only time will tell.

[myk384]

Hope the replacement would be much better and much sensitive to the customers

One thing he must do, lower prices of their vehicles!!!

[CVT]

If the trend continues,- Honda may become number4 in a little while......
(If that will be the case "I Am Number4".... )

12.6K:bike3:

[Ry_Tower]

Because of limited line-up, and with Hyundai willing to let accent be used as a taxi, I think more than a little while sila as #4.

[jave]

Let's not forget the fact that Honda doesn't offer anything locally that can seat more than 5. That's already a loss in market share there.

[number001]

The possibility of Honda becoming "number 5", after Mitsubishi overtakes them, is not moot.

[kinyo]

iirc ... a few days ago, i saw an ad/promo of honda in a newspaper... win a free trip to japan!

[SiRbossR]

GOOD NEWS nga yan.

[Ry_Tower]

The possibility of Honda becoming "number 5", after Mitsubishi overtakes them, is not moot.

MMC is already #2. baka Kia yung mag-overtake sa kanila sa #4 spot and ibig mo sabihin?

[mazingerZ]

iirc ... a few days ago, i saw an ad/promo of honda in a newspaper... win a free trip to japan!

Saan dun? Sa Fukishima?

[tidus1203]

Outgoing Honda Cars Philippines president Hiroshi Shimizu is headed back to Japan where he will be tasked to oversee the brand's operations in North America.


Shimizu led the launch of the 2011 Honda Jazz as his four-year stint in the Philippine car industry nears its end. A new president, whom Honda Cars Philippines has yet to name, will be reporting for duty starting April 1.


"This will be my last event with Honda Cars Philippines," Shimizu said during the Jazz launch.
When asked about what he thinks is his greatest legacy as the big boss of Honda's Philippine operations, Shimizu said it would be his implementation of corporate governance into the company.
Voltaire Gonzales, Honda Cars Philippines' vehicle sales and corporate communications chief, echoed Shimizu's sentiment.


"He instilled professionalism into the company. You can say that the younger employees in the company ripened quickly under his watch," Gonzales said.

http://www.topgear.com.ph/news/outgo...rofessionalism


He is going to North America?? He couldn't even maintain growth equivalent to the market in a THIRD WORLD country and he goes to a bloody competitive FIRST WORLD market?

[pasaway777]

^^^

yah he is going there to kick allan mullaly's butt....

if he can hehe

[petixs]

Altough I've purchased a Civic FD and Jazz gen 1.... I've always found Honda's marketing strategy a litle "mayabang"...

They offer little or no discounts.

Manage to raise prices every MMC change with out adding more value added features..

And considering their line-up choices....

No Manual tranny choices for the Jazz 1.5 and current Civic FD.
As mentioned above, no 7 seater for the market.
And most of their Casa's wanting in terms of aftermarket excellence...

No wonder they "faded" (copying top gears words) into the no.3 spot.

They must cater to the niche markets... give the consumer choices , not dictate the choices... This is why Hyundai is no.2 now.

[hondaboot]

tingen ko hindi naman yun president yan. Honda is doing an Isuzu. nagmatigas sa current trends and look what happened to Isuzu. I think it's more for the owners of the dealers. when the tucson got released last year, what Honda did was raise their prices ngek

and the upcoming models aren't competitive either ... looks like bye bye Honda.

i have driven the new M/T 1.4 accent, and boy it's fast. the quality of ride is comparable to my Sta Fe but of course, without the ground clearance

tatalunin talaga ng Hyundai accent ang segment na yan

[imperialv]

Altough I've purchased a Civic FD and Jazz gen 1.... I've always found Honda's marketing strategy a litle "mayabang"...

They offer little or no discounts.

Manage to raise prices every MMC change with out adding more value added features..

And considering their line-up choices....

No Manual tranny choices for the Jazz 1.5 and current Civic FD.
As mentioned above, no 7 seater for the market.
And most of their Casa's wanting in terms of aftermarket excellence...

No wonder they "faded" (copying top gears words) into the no.3 spot.

They must cater to the niche markets... give the consumer choices , not dictate the choices... This is why Hyundai is no.2 now.

diba nagkaroon naman ang honda na 10 seater.. remember yung lumabas ang 2nd Gen CRV... kasya daw 10 dun.. and it was selling like hotcake... Kung sino man ang r&d nila nuon dapat binalik nila kung wala na...

[petixs]

diba nagkaroon naman ang honda na 10 seater.. remember yung lumabas ang 2nd Gen CRV... kasya daw 10 dun.. and it was selling like hotcake... Kung sino man ang r&d nila nuon dapat binalik nila kung wala na...

7 seater lang yun...kaya ginawa ni Honda yun para makapasok sa tax breaks para sa "AUV" segments, where-in if you can seat 7 or more, pasok ka dun, and because of that they managed to lower the price of the CRV gen 2 back then ( the one and only time) albeit with the same profit margin, kaya bumenta nsto CR-V gen 2 noon. Pero short lived din , dahil tinanggal din ng BIR/DTI(?) yung tax break after an actual fitting of 7 adult...well didnt exactly fit comfortably...

[Ry_Tower]

Honda needs to add more cars and variants (M/T) as well as be competitive in pricing. Mahal na nga parts nila and service, mahal pa rice samantalang yung mga kalaban nila ay puro value-for-money na ang proposition.

[imperialv]

7 seater lang yun...kaya ginawa ni Honda yun para makapasok sa tax breaks para sa "AUV" segments, where-in if you can seat 7 or more, pasok ka dun, and because of that they managed to lower the price of the CRV gen 2 back then ( the one and only time) albeit with the same profit margin, kaya bumenta nsto CR-V gen 2 noon. Pero short lived din , dahil tinanggal din ng BIR/DTI(?) yung tax break after an actual fitting of 7 adult...well didnt exactly fit comfortably...

Joke nga yun before.. diba it can seat 10 persons...