TOKYO – Subaru has appointed Atsushi Osaki as its subsequent CEO, tasking the manufacturing chief to steer the small-sized Japanese automaker by means of a difficult period of electrification, automated driving and trade upheaval because it strives to rekindle U.S. gross sales.

The following boss, talking at a press convention on Friday, mentioned that flexibility and growth shall be key focal factors of his tenure. Subaru shall be versatile in rapidly respsonding to market developments, comparable to electrification. And it’ll search to develop within the U.S. and new markets comparable to Australia.

“We at Subaru need to survive the age of electrification by being nimble,” Osaki mentioned. “We’ll put varied techniques in place whereas specializing in flexibility and growth.”

The U.S., which constitutes Subaru’s greatest market by far, nonetheless holds numerous potential, he mentioned.

“I imagine we will nonetheless develop our gross sales within the U.S.,” Osaki mentioned.

“We additionally obtain a whole lot of buyer inquiries from Japan, Asia, Australia, and Canada, as properly,” he mentioned. “For the time being, we’re unable to fulfill such potential demand attributable to chip shortages, however we are going to work to resolve such points and search to additional enhance our gross sales globally.”

Osaki, 60, most lately served as world manufacturing chief however has a protracted backround in high quality assurance, serving on the chief high quality officer lately to root out high quality issues.

Osaki takes workplace in June and joins a reconstituted Subaru board that month, pending approval on the annual shareholders’ assembly historically held in June.

Present CEO Tomomi Nakamura, 63, will turn out to be chairman underneath the wide-ranging administration shuffle introduced in Tokyo.

Nakamura took the helm in 2018 throughout a troublesome interval for the all-wheel-drive specialist model. On the time, Subaru was besieged by a automobile inspection downside in Japan that damage the model’s picture within the home market. And mushrooming high quality issues led to embarrassing recollects, whereas marring important product launches, comparable to that of the Ascent giant crossover.

Nakamura made high quality enchancment a prime precedence of his tenure and applied sweeping reforms to alleviate manufacturing strain on overburdened factories.

Osaki was tapped to spearhead that high quality initiative because the chief high quality officer in 2018.

A graduate of the Tokyo College of Agriculture and Know-how, the Tokyo-native joined Fuji Heavy Industries, as Subaru was beforehand referred to as, in April 1988.

On the Tokyo press convention, Osaki mentioned one in all his pastimes is consuming ramen.

Subaru mentioned Osaki shall be charged with devising a brand new mid-term plan to observe the five-year roadmap that was formulated in 2018 and concludes this yr.

“Within the medium to long run, we’re in a once-in-century tumultuous time within the automotive trade,” Osaki mentioned. “Even in our important battleground, the U.S. market, it’s nonetheless unclear and onerous to find out how electrification will go from right here. There may be nothing we will do about uncertainty, so we are going to strive to answer adjustments out there atmosphere flexibly.”

Underneath Nakamura’s watch, sizzling demand for Subaru product additionally drove Subaru’s U.S. gross sales to report highs. That’s, till the pandemic and ensuing semiconductor crunch torpedoed quantity.

In 2020, it fell in need of reaching an astounding twelfth straight yr of report U.S. gross sales, when deliveries dropped 12.6 p.c. Final yr, U.S. quantity dipped 4.7 p.c to 556,581 autos, far off the all-time excessive of 700,117 achieved in 2019 earlier than COVID-19 gripped the world.

As provide comes again on-line, Subaru’s U.S. gross sales rose 1.3 p.c to 53,606 by means of February.

Nakamura additionally strengthened ties between Subaru and its greatest shareholder, Toyota. In 2019, Toyota elevated its stake in Subaru to twenty p.c, whereas Subaru took a smaller reciprocal stake in Toyota. That led to elevated cooperation, together with the joint growth of Subaru’s first full-electric crossover, offered because the bZ4X by Toyota and the Solterra by Subaru.

Nakamura was referred to as an EV skeptic, usually asking if demand was actually that robust for EVs, particularly in North America, Subaru’s most vital market.

However final Could, Subaru acknowledged rising curiosity within the know-how and introduced plans so as to add a devoted in-house EV meeting plant in Japan from about 2027. The push was a part of a multibillion-dollar funding in electrification over the next 5 years.

Final month,  Subaru mentioned it can ramp up its electrified choices within the important U.S. market to incorporate a number of battery EVs by 2025 because it shifts growth focus to the phase.

In handing the baton to Osaki, Nakamura acknowledged the rising challenges.

“The urgent points, comparable to chip shortages and response to electrification, are in no way simple to cope with,” Nakamura mentioned. “We have to discover what could be the easiest way to develop battery electrical autos, and there’s additionally the problem of battery procurement.”