Honda CEO battles to stay on the job for another two-year term

Tokyo

HONDA Motor CEO Takanobu Ito, under fire for how he is dismantling the traditional way that the Japanese carmaker sources parts and technologies, has resisted moves for his ouster and will fight on for another two-year term, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Mr Ito took over in 2009, and for the past three years has shaken up Honda's decades-old, tightly-knit supply chain, looking to trim costs while finding more cutting edge technologies. That has rankled long-term local suppliers and some former Honda chiefs, and the pressure on Mr Ito has been ratcheted higher by mass recalls over quality issues. Some retired executives manoeuvred to have Mr Ito removed.