Shanghai December 7 (Gasgoo.com) Yamamoto Katurou, former General Manager of Toyama, Japan-based sales division of Suzuki Motor Corp., has recently been appointed as the new President and General Manager of Manager Suzuki Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (Suzuki China), the National Business Daily reported Tuesday.
Hiroshi Tarumoto, the incumbent President and General Manager of Suzuki China, has left for Changzhou Haojue Suzuki Motorcycle Co.,Ltd. as General Manger last week. The handover has been completed at present, the company told the Daily.
Hiroshi Tarumoto took over the job of running Suzuki China from Hashimoto Toshiaki in May 2009, and after only one year and a half he has been replaced, which shows clearly that the Japanese automaker's strategic development in the world's biggest auto market is not going quite well.
During his tenure, Hiroshi Tarumoto said the company plans to sell 500,000 vehicles per year in China, but only 260,000 units were sold from April 2009 to April 2010.
With a view to increasing its vehicle sales in the Chinese market, Suzuki launched its flagship sedan, the Kizashi, in July this year, when Hiroshi Tarumoto predicted the middle-class car's annual sales could reach 10,000 units, while five months later, he got none but a single digit.
