Mazda names former North America chief Masahiro Moro as next CEO

TOKYO – Mazda Motor Corp. has appointed Masahiro Moro, a longtime veteran of its critical North American operations, to be the automaker's next CEO as it navigates a tricky transition to electrification.

Moro, 62, who was chairman of Mazda Motor of America before becoming head of the company's administrative division in 2021, will take the post in June, pending approval at the company's annual shareholders meeting.

He takes over from Akira Marumoto, 65, who has served as president and CEO since 2018. Marumoto will become a senior adviser. Kiyotaka Shobuda will remain as chairman.

Moro was promoted partly for his success at reforming the U.S. dealer network and for rebuilding the profitability of Mazda's business there, Marumoto said at a news conference on Friday.

Boosting sales per outlet in the U.S. is a key target in the automaker’s most important market, Moro said, and the arrival of two new large crossovers will power a U.S. surge.

The management shuffle also sees the promotion of North America boss Jeffrey Guyton to become Mazda's global finance chief and a member of the parent company's board.

Guyton, 56, will be based in Hiroshima. He will keep his role as head of North American operations with the additional responsibility for cost innovation. Guyton will also take on the title of "assistant to the president."

His new role is intended to inject fresh perspective into the export-dependent Japanese automaker, which gets 86 percent of its sales from outside Japan and 36 percent from North America.

"We want to bring fresh eyes to the company," Moro said at the news conference. He will pursue two priorities, he added.

“One is to successfully roll out large products, which will be a major growth driver for putting the company on a growth trajectory,” Moro said.

"The second is to implement companywide cost reduction activities, including all supply chains and value chains, in order to further improve management efficiency going forward, so as to make our overall business more robust," he added.

The management changes represent a strengthened focus on North America for Mazda, as it rolls out new crossovers and steps up its play in electrified vehicles.

Mazda said in November it will invest ¥1.5 trillion ($10.6 billion) into electrification through 2030 with a string of new partnerships targeting everything from batteries and motors to computer chips in an attempt to catch up in the global race for new technologies.

The investment could include electric vehicle production in the U.S. as early as 2026-27, the second phase of the company's just-updated midterm business plan.

U.S. retail reform
Mazda's U.S. sales fell 11 percent to 294,908 vehicles in 2022, in an overall market down 7.9 percent. Its market share dipped to 2.1 percent from 2.2 percent the year before.

The automaker is anticipating an upswing in U.S. business this year on the expected rollout of the new CX-70 and CX-90 crossovers. Those upmarket, higher-margin products are positioned to help generate the profits that will power Mazda's investment into next-generation electrification.

In the U.S., Mazda has exceeded its goal of renovating 300 retail outlets and expects to hit around 360 stores, Moro said. Another key goal is boosting per-store volume so that dealers can reap bigger sales and have more money to reinvest in their businesses.

Mazda had 540 dealerships in the U.S. at the end of December. As newly renovated outlets, it is targeting throughput of 1,000 units per store as an interim goal, and will consider raising that to 1,200.

"We are going to secure growth together with the dealers," Moro said.

Mazda expects EVs to make up between 25 and 40 percent of its global sales in 2030. That is up from its earlier outlook, which projected that EVs would account for just a quarter of all volume. But the automaker is keeping the target as a flexible range to account for all the unknowns.

Moro is fluent in English and comfortable in international circles. He joined Mazda in 1983, when the company was still called Toyo Kogyo Co. He worked in global marketing operations and was head of Mazda in Europe from 2004 to 2008. Moro became president and CEO of Mazda Motor of America in 2016.

Guyton started his career at Ford Motor Co. in 1996, when the U.S. automaker still had a controlling stake in Mazda. He joined Mazda in 2000 as a general manager in its planning division and rotated through roles in Europe before becoming president of Mazda's regional business there. Guyton took over as president of Mazda Motor of America in 2019.

Moro's appointment at Mazda is the latest within Japan's group of Toyota-affiliated automakers.

In January, Toyota announced Koji Sato will succeed Akio Toyoda as CEO from April 1. Earlier this month, Subaru said Atsushi Osaki will succeed Tomomi Nakamura in June. Toyota has a 5 percent stake in Mazda and a 20 percent stake in Subaru.

Mazda and Subaru regularly change CEOs roughly every five years.

Naoto Okamura contributed to this report