Mazda Assigns Masamichi Kogai as Future CEO

Now that Mazda is getting its first benefit in 5 years, the brand has assigned Masamichi Kogai to substitute current CEO Takashi Yamanouchi.

The decision will go into effect pending the confirmation of the brand’s June 25 annual shareholders’ event. Kogai, a production and sales specialist at Mazda, has played a big part in adaptation of Mazda to be a more efficient brand. Yamanouchi will return his title of chairman.

Kogai, 58, has started his work in Mazda in 1977 and has spent the biggest part of his career in R&D, logistics, price improvement, and information technology. He became the chief of production and purchasing in 2011 and assisted navigate Mazda through hard times after the earthquake in Japan.

Yamanouchi however, got the CEO post in 2008 and was the first Japanese president of an independent Mazda, free of Ford’s controlling stake. He brought the Japanese brand’s SkyActiv line of models and achieved a global net profit of $364.3 million after 4 years of losses.