Subaru appoints new CEO focused on electric vehicles

Atsushi Osaki will become the next CEO of subaru in June, taking over Tomomi Nakamura, who has led the company since 2018.

Subaru says this change will help “accelerate” [its] efforts to address the profound transformation the auto industry is undergoing.”

In the press conference attended by auto news“At Subaru, we want to survive the age of electrification by being agile,” said Osaki. We will adopt a variety of systems while focusing on flexibility and scalability.”

The new CEO also said that he will focus on developing sales in the US and Australia. The US accounts for about 65% of the carmaker’s sales, while Australia is the company’s fourth-largest market after the US, Japan and Canada.

Osaki joined Fuji Heavy Industries – now known as Subaru – in 1988 shortly after completing his master’s degree in engineering at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.

As he progressed, Osaki mainly worked in the product planning, engineering and quality assurance departments, and became the chief quality officer in 2018.

In 2021, Osaki is promoted to the position of production director of the company.

According to Subaru, part of the reason for the leadership change is that the company is nearing the end of its five-year “Step” plan.

Subaru said the new CEO and his team will “build a new management vision” and this will be announced at the annual meeting in June, where Osaki will officially take the reins.

The appointment of a new CEO at Subaru reflects a similar generational shift at Toyota, which owns a 20% stake in Subaru. At the end of January, Toyota announced Akio Toyoda will be replaced by Koji Satocurrently head of Lexus and Gazoo Racing.

Sato has been tasked with increasing the company’s focus on electric vehicles, a side the company has been late to joining.

Together developed Toyota bZ4X And Subaru Solterrawere the first cars to use an EV variant of the TNGA architecture, but these vehicles have been recalled several times due to the wheel possibly falling off during use.

Although Tomomi Nakamura will step down as president and chief executive officer of Subaru, he will remain at the company as chairman of the board.

Nakamura was appointed director of Subaru in 2018 after the company admitted to tampering with fuel economy and emissions data for vehicles sold in its home market.

Last year, the automaker was caught using uncertified trainees to perform final checks on vehicles sold in Japan.

Nakamura joined Subaru — or Fuji Heavy Industries as it was then known — in 1982, and worked primarily in sales, marketing, and planning.

He became the CEO of Subaru in the US in 2014 and saw the company go through a period of tremendous growth thanks to the allure of four-wheel drive – so much so that he convinced the headquarters to authorized the American branch to produce a new three-seat crossover, the Ascendant, to address Toyota Kluger.