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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Singapore Asia Pacific World Search Search: Honda president pushes founder energy, hybrids By YURI KAGEYAMA,AP Business Writer AP - Tuesday, July 14 TOKYO - Honda's new president promised to draw inspiration from the legacy of the company's founder to ride out hard times while pushing an aggressive strategy built around hybrid green technology. ADVERTISEMENT "A company must increasingly have individual character to stand out," Takanobu Ito said Monday in his first news conference as Honda Motor Co. president. "Honda had very strong energy at its founding, and we want to use that energy for the future of Honda." He said the automaker must pride itself on its "human" qualities, exemplified in founder Soichiro Honda, who was well-known for his exuberant love of cars and boyish bubbly personality. Honda died in 1991. Ito said Honda, Japan's No. 2 automaker, will speed up its hybrid vehicle plans to offer a CR-Z sporty hybrid model in Japan in February 2010, and a hybrid version of the Fit subcompact before the end of 2010. Overseas plans are in the works, but details are undecided, with the CR-Z planned for both North American and European markets, according to Ito. He declined to comment on the hybrid Fit's regional plans. Honda faces intense competition in the hybrid market from Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest automaker. Toyota's remodeled Toyota Prius has been a hit, topping sales in Japan for two months straight, surpassing Honda's hybrid offering, the Insight, which had been in top place before Prius' arrival. Like Honda, Toyota has also called upon its founding roots to bring the rank and file together during the tough times of the global economic downturn. Akio Toyoda, the founder's grandson, became president in June. Ito, 55, who became president after a shareholders' meeting in June, is not from the founding family, as Soichiro Honda, who established the automaker in 1948, did not believe in passing managerial power down the family. Ito said hybrids are so crucial in the industry these days that every model, including those from other automakers, will be a hybrid over the next 20 years. "There are some issues left to overcome on battery and motor technology, so it won't happen overnight," Ito said, sitting next to a blue Insight in a Tokyo showroom. "Our theme is hybrids." But when asked whether he was aiming for Honda to be a bigger or a smaller company, he said he was after quickness, not scale. "It's not about size. I want to be a speedy Honda," he said. "I want my company to be able to act decisively while being filled with a creative sensibility." Yasuaki Iwamoto, analyst with Okasan Securities in Tokyo, said Ito can likely be counted on to tighten the links between development and production to deliver a more nimble Honda. Ito has stressed that he has been visiting rank-and-file workers and engineers in recent weeks. Honda has fared relatively better than Toyota and has stayed in the black for the fiscal year ended March 31, partly because Honda did not have as many bigger models in its lineup, and also has a motorcycle unit, which wasn't as hard hit, especially in emerging markets. In contrast, Toyota sunk to its worst ever loss and is expecting more red ink for the fiscal year through March 2010. "Looking back, we can see how Toyota did not respond quickly enough and went crashing at top speed into the subprime crisis," Iwamoto said. Hybrids shot to popularity when oil prices surged in recent years. But even after gas prices settled, environmental concerns have helped make hybrids the car of choice for many consumers. With emissions standards getting tight around the world, including the key North American market, under President Barack Obama's green initiative, hybrid technology is increasingly being seen as critical, said Ito, who drives an Insight. Honda has sold 38,700 Insight vehicles worldwide since it went on sale in February. Toyota has not disclosed a global sales tally for the new Prius, but has said it has received orders topping 200,000 in Japan. Ito, who shyly acknowledged his personality strength as a cheerful optimism, stressed that Honda must remember its founder's human traits. Honda was sensitive and considerate, noticed details others may overlook and cared about people, Ito recalled. "Soichiro Honda was really a nice guy," he said. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Sign in to recommend this article » 0 users recommend Related Articles: Business Intel to report 2Q numbersAP - Tuesday, July 14 IMAX focused on Asia as part of global expansionAP - Tuesday, July 14 RHJ says Opel talks at advanced stageAP - Tuesday, July 14 Oil up near $60 on weaker dollar, Nigeria attackAP - Tuesday, July 14 CIT Group in talks with regulators, shares tumbleAP - 2 hours 13 minutes ago Enlarge Photo Honda Mortor Co.'s new President Takanobu Ito poses for photos during a press conference at the Honda's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, July 13, 2009. Ito is promising to call upon the creative energies of the company founder to ride out hard times. And he's pushing an aggressive strategy built around hybrid green technology. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa) Most Popular – Business Viewed Worst yet to come: White House economic advisor Miniskirts, cleavage upset male SKoreans: survey Pushy French are world's worst tourists: study Jackson 'best father' ever, daughter tells the world London's Big Ben clocks up 150 years View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Community - Intellectual Property Rights Policy - Help

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