Tag: Strategy

Subaru Corporation Announces Changes in Directors and Auditors(Effective June 2019)

March 1, 2019

Subaru Corporation Announces Changes in Directors and Auditors
(Effective June 2019)

Tokyo, March 1, 2019 – The Board of Directors of Subaru Corporation today resolved the following changes in the members of the Board of Directors and the Board of Corporate Auditors, with the aim of reinforcing the company’s corporate governance. Appointments of the Directors and Auditors will be proposed at the Company’s 88th General Meeting of Shareholders scheduled for June 2019.

1. Nominees for Directors
All of the current Directors will retire on the expiration of their term of office.
Nominees for new Directors are as follows:

Director of the Board
Chairman
Yasuyuki Yoshinaga
(Current title: Director of the Board, Chairman )

Representative Director of the Board
President
Tomomi Nakamura
(Current title: Representative Director of the Board, President)

◎
Representative Director of the Board
Deputy President
Kazuo Hosoya
(Current title: Deputy President)

Director of the Board
Executive Vice President
Toshiaki Okada
(Current title: Director of the Board, Executive Vice President)

Director of the Board
Executive Vice President
Yoichi Kato
(Current title: Director of the Board, Executive Vice President)

Director of the Board
Executive Vice President
Tetsuo Onuki
(Current title: Director of the Board, Executive Vice President)

Outside Director
Shigehiro Aoyama
(Current title: Outside Director)

◎
Outside Director
Yasuyuki Abe
(Current title: Outside Corporate Auditor)

◎
Outside Director
Natsunosuke Yago
(Current title: Chairman of the Board, Ebara Corporation)

◎: Newly appointed

2. Nominees for Corporate Auditors
Akira Mabuchi and Shinichi Mita will retire as Corporate Auditors on the expiration of their term of office.
Yasuyuki Abe will resign.
Nominees for new Corporate Auditors are as follows:

Standing Corporate Auditor
Akira Mabuchi
(Current title: Standing Corporate Auditor )

◎
Outside Corporate Auditor
Shigeru Nosaka
(Current title: Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Oracle Corporation Japan)

◎
Outside Corporate Auditor
Kyoko Okada
(Current title: Audit & Supervisory Board Member (standing), Shiseido Co., Ltd.)

◎: Newly appointed

As current Corporate Auditor Shuzo Haimoto will continue to be in his term of office, the total number of Corporate Auditors will be four.

3. Retiring Director

Yoshinori Komamura (Current title: Outside Director)

4. New Board of Directors
(Subject to election of Directors at the Company’s 88th General Meeting of Shareholders scheduled for June 2019)

Name

Areas of responsibility
as Executive Officer
(Effective April 1, 2019)

Yasuyuki Yoshinaga
Director
Chairman
Chairman of the Board of Directors
—

—

Tomomi Nakamura
Representative Director
President
Member of the Executive Nomination Meeting and the Executive Compensation Meeting
– Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
– Aerospace Company
– Quality

—

Kazuo Hosoya
Representative Director
Deputy President
Member of the Executive Nomination Meeting and the Executive Compensation Meeting
– Manufacturing
– China Project Office

Chief General Manager of Manufacturing Div. and Gunma Plant

Toshiaki Okada
Director
Executive Vice President
Member of the Executive Nomination Meeting and the Executive Compensation Meeting
– Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
– Secretarial Office
– Finance & Accounting Dept.
– Human Resources Dept.

—

Yoichi Kato
Director
Executive Vice President
—
– Chief Risk Management Officer (CRMO)
– Risk Management Group
– External Relations Dept.
– Intellectual Property Dept.

—

Tetsuo Onuki
Director
Executive Vice President
—
– Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

—

Shigehiro Aoyama
Outside Director
Member of the Executive Nomination Meeting and the Executive Compensation Meeting
—

—

Yasuyuki Abe
Outside Director
Member of the Executive Nomination Meeting and the Executive Compensation Meeting
—

—

Natsunosuke Yago
Outside Director
Member of the Executive Nomination Meeting and the Executive Compensation Meeting
—

—

###

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A month ago, Elon Musk thought Tesla would be profitable. Now he doesn’t. What changed?

Noah Berger | Reuters
Tesla Chief Executive Office Elon Musk speaks at his company's factory in Fremont, California.

How rapidly things change in Silicon Valley.

A month ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk seemed confident the electric car maker would turn a profit in the first quarter. Now he's predicting a loss. The reversal — disclosed on a media call Thursday night — overshadowed what was supposed to be good news during a tough week of headlines: Tesla was finally unveiling its long-awaited Model 3 sedan at $35,000.

The shares, already under pressure from Musk's ongoing tussle with federal securities regulators, tanked by almost 8 percent in midday trading Friday.

To make its popular electric car at a more affordable price for consumers, Musk said the company has to trim stores, cut employees and shift sales online. It's all part of a push to profitably sell the long-anticipated (and much delayed) $35,000 variant of the Model 3, the midsize sedan Musk and company had long bet would take Tesla from a niche manufacturer to a major automaker.

On Jan. 30, Musk told investors he thought Tesla would continue making money after finally turning its first back-to-back profits during the third and fourth quarters of last year, fulfilling his previous forecast that Tesla would become “sustainably profitable” from the third quarter of 2018 onward.

“I would say at this point I'm optimistic about being profitable in Q1,” Musk said on the Jan. 30 conference call discussing the company's fourth-quarter earnings. “Not by a lot, but I'm optimistic about being profitable in Q1 and for all quarters going forward.”

So what happened?

Musk cited one-time charges this quarter as one major factor, though he did not specify what those are. The company has $920 million in debt due Friday, and Musk has previously said it had enough cash on hand to cover.

He also said there have been some difficulties getting cars to China and Europe.

How much money Tesla can make selling a cheaper Model 3, and whether customers will actually buy it, are major concerns among investors.

“Tesla cut the size of their battery by 30 percent to get this $35,000 base unit out the door,” said Craig Irwin, an analyst with Roth Capital Partners. That is probably a reduction in cost of about $5,500 per car, Irwin said. But who wants a low-range car, he said.

“They killed the 60 kWh Model S for poor demand, and even weaker margins,” he said. “It seems to dovetail nicely that 2019 will see major margin pressure,” he said.

The fact that the company is moving all vehicle sales online and cutting retail jobs also suggests it is coming to the realization that many industry observers suspected all along — profitably selling a $35,000 electric car will be very difficult.

“Tesla appears to have answered the question we have long asked around whether the company was going to be able to profitably produce the $35k Model 3 through production efficiencies and increased volumes,” Cowen analyst Jeff Osborne said in a note to clients Friday. “Switching the strategy now to shed stores that are the face of the brand beyond Elon Musk's Twitter feed, likely means that management has come to the realization that it was not going to be feasible.”

It is also significant that this is all happening as federal tax credits for Tesla cars start to wind down, said CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson. The first 200,000 customers to buy Tesla cars received a federal tax credit of $7,500. But those were halved at the beginning of the year, after Tesla hit the limit. They will continue to be phased out by the quarter.

“I think it all goes back to the EV tax credits, which are negatively impacting sales and gross margins,” Nelson said.

Red flags went up for Nelson just a few days after the New Year when Tesla said it would cut prices on its vehicles. Then the company announced it would focus on producing higher-cost exports to China and Europe, lay off workers and introduce a Model 3 leasing program, he said.

“The earnings warning just confirms these red flags, and while it's a bit early to say, it appears that the company's profitability challenges could potentially linger well beyond Q1,” he said.

The announcement certainly was abrupt and did not appear to be made from a position of strength, said Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi in a note Friday. But over the long term there are still several levers Tesla can pull to improve profits, including reducing sales and manufacturing costs as well as driving higher sales volume with the cheaper Model 3, its leasing programs and international expansion, he said.

“In some ways, we believe CEO Musk's recent focus on profitability each quarter may have been misplaced – and that Tesla might be best served by looking to press its brand and first mover advantage by aggressively making and distributing its cars – which yesterday's move appears to be doing,” he said.

Subaru Corporation Announces Management Changes(Effective March 31, 2019 and April 1, 2019)

March 1, 2019

Subaru Corporation Announces Management Changes
(Effective March 31, 2019 and April 1, 2019)

Tokyo, March 1, 2019 – Subaru Corporation announces the following management changes which will take effect on March 31, 2019 and April 1, 2019.

１．Promoted Officers (Effective April 1, 2019)

– Atsushi Osaki: Executive Vice President
(Current title: Senior Vice President, Chief Quality Officer (CQO), Chief General Manager of Quality Assurance Div. and Customer Service Div.)

– Eiji Ogino: Senior Vice President
(Current title: Vice President, President of Subaru Indiana Automotive, Inc.)

– Hiromi Tamou: Senior Vice President
(Current title: Vice President, Senior General Manager of Engineering Management Div., Chief General Manager of Technical Research Center)

２．Newly-appointed Officers (Effective April 1, 2019)

– Tetsuo Fujinuki: Vice President
(Current title: Senior General Manager of Engineering Div. 1)

– Hiroshi Wakai: Vice President
(Current title: Company Vice President of Aerospace Company, Senior General Manager of Engineering & Development Center)

– Kazuhiro Abe: Vice President
(Current title: Senior General Manager of Product Planning Div., Senior Project General Manager)

３．Retiring Officers (Effective March 31, 2019)

– Masaki Okawara
(Current title: Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief General Manager of IT Strategy Div.)
Appointed as President of Subaru Logistics Co., Ltd. effective April 1, 2019.

– Toshiaki Tamegai
(Current title: Senior Vice President, Manufacturing Div.)
Appointed as President of Kiryu Industry Co., Ltd. effective April 1, 2019.

– Hiroki Kurihara
(Current title: Vice President, President of Tokyo Subaru Inc.)
To continue to hold the position as President of Tokyo Subaru Inc.* which he assumed effective January 1, 2019.
(* Announced on December 11, 2018)

– Yasuhiro Hamanaka
(Current title: Vice President, Company Vice President of Aerospace Company, General Manager of Kisarazu Maintenance Dept.)
Appointed as President of FAS Co., Ltd. effective April 1, 2019.

４．Changes to areas of responsibility of Executive Officers (Effective April 1, 2019)

Name
Effective April 1, 2019
Current

Yasuyuki Yoshinaga
Director
Chairman
—
– “Tadashii-Kaisha” Promotion Dept.
– Compliance Office

—
—

Toshiaki Okada
Director
Executive Vice President
– Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
– Secretarial Office
– Finance & Accounting Dept.
– Human Resources Dept.
– Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
– Corporate Planning Dept.
– Secretarial Office
– Finance & Accounting Dept.
– Human Resources Dept.
– “Tadashii-Kaisha” Promotion Dept.
– Compliance Office
– Subaru Next Story Promotion Office

—
—

Yoichi Kato
Director
Executive Vice President
– Chief Risk Management Officer (CRMO)
– Risk Management Group
– External Relations Dept.
– Intellectual Property Dept.
– External Relations Dept.
– General Administration Dept.
– CSR & Environment Dept.
– Group Company Management Dept.
– Legal Dept.
– Internal Audit Dept.

—
—

Tetsuo Onuki
Director
Executive Vice President
– Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
– Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
– Engineering Management Div.
– Engineering Div. 1
– Engineering Div. 2
– Intellectual Property Dept.

—
Chief General Manager of Engineering Management Div.

Atsushi Osaki
Executive Vice President
– Chief Quality Officer (CQO)
– Quality Assurance Div.
– Chief Quality Officer (CQO)
– Quality Assurance Div.
– Customer Service Div.

Chief General Manager of Quality Assurance Div.
Chief General Manager of Quality Assurance Div. and Customer Service Div.

Takuji Dai
Senior Vice President
– Chief Information Officer (CIO)
– IT Strategy Div.
– Corporate Planning Div.
– Product Planning Div.

Chief General Manager of IT Strategy Div., Senior General Manager of Corporate Planning Div.
Chief General Manager of Product Planning Div.

Fumiaki Hayata
Senior Vice President
– Corporate Planning Div.
– Corporate Planning Dept.

Chief General Manager of Corporate Planning Div.
General Manager of Corporate Planning Dept.

Hiromi Tamou
Senior Vice President
– Engineering Management Div.
– Technical Research Center
– Engineering Management Div.
– Technical Research Center

Chief General Manager of Engineering Management Div. and Technical Research Center
Senior General Manager of Engineering Management Div. and Chief General Manager of Technical Research Center

Katsuo Saito
Vice President
– General Administration Dept.
– Investor Relations Dept.
– Business Planning Dept.
– General Administration Dept.
– CSR & Environment Dept.
– Group Company Management Dept.

General Manager of General Administration Dept. and Investor Relations Dept.
General Manager of Business Planning Dept., General Administration Dept. and Group Company Management Dept.

Yasushi Nagae
Vice President
– Customer Service Div.
– Quality Assurance Div.
– Customer Service Div.

Chief General Manager of Customer Service Div.
Senior General Manager of Quality Assurance Div. and Customer Service Div.

Tomoaki Emori
Vice President
– Corporate Planning Div.
– Global Marketing Div.

Senior General Manager of Corporate Planning Div.
Chief General Manager of Global Marketing Div.

Tetsuo Fujinuki
Vice President
(Newly appointed)
– Engineering Div. 1
Senior General Manager of Engineering Div. 1

Senior General Manager of Engineering Div. 1

Hiroshi Wakai
Vice President
(Newly appointed)
– Aerospace Company
Company Vice President of Aerospace Company, Senior General Manager of Engineering & Development Center

Company Vice President of Aerospace Company, Senior General Manager of Engineering & Development Center

Kazuhiro Abe
Vice President
(Newly appointed)
– Product Planning Div.
Senior General Manager of Product Planning Div., Senior Project General Manager

Chief General Manager of Product Planning Div.

###

[PDF/196 KB]

Subaru Corporation Announces Organizational Changes(Effective April 1, 2019)

March 1, 2019

Subaru Corporation Announces Organizational Changes
(Effective April 1, 2019)

Tokyo, March 1, 2019 – Subaru Corporation announces the following organizational changes which will take effect on April 1, 2019.

1.　Reinforcement of Internal Controls and Governance

To enhance the effectiveness of internal controls and risk management by consolidating and abolishing organizations and clarifying reporting lines.

The Compliance Office will be reorganized to form the Risk Management & Compliance Office.
In addition to the function of strengthening the company’s efforts to comply with laws and regulations, this office will take on the roles of planning and implementing group-wide internal controls and risk management.

The CSR & Environment Department will be reorganized to form the Sustainability Promotion Department.
In addition to the function of promoting CSR and environmental efforts, this department will take on the roles of planning and implementing group-wide activities from an ESG perspective.

Together with the General Administration Department, the Group Company Management Department, the Legal Department, and the Internal Audit Department, these two new units will form a Risk Management Group overseen by the Chief Risk Management Officer (CRMO)*. (*Newly established position)

2.　Acceleration of Management Strategy Planning and Implementation

To facilitate responses to future changes in the market environment and enable management strategy to more promptly reflect product and market initiatives, including those to address environmental challenges.

The Corporate Planning Division will be established, and the Corporate Planning Department, Market Strategy Department (newly established), and Logistics Management Department (newly established) will belong to this Division.

The Global Marketing Division will be dissolved, and its tasks and functions relating to the product portfolio, market research and analysis, and the Subaru brand will be transferred to this department.
The new department will plan and implement brand, product, and market strategies under the Corporate Planning Division.

The Business Planning Department will be dissolved, and its logistics-related tasks will be transferred to this department.
The new department will plan, implement, and coordinate group-wide logistics strategy under the Corporate Planning Division.

3.　Enhancement of Corporate Disclosure Function

To facilitate constructive engagement with shareholders and investors, with the goal of achieving sustainable growth of the company and increasing corporate value over the medium- to long-term.

Investor relations functions in the Corporate Communications Department and shareholder relations functions in the General Administration Department will be consolidated under the newly established Investor Relations Department.

4.　Other

The “Tadashii-Kaisha” Promotion Department will be terminated, and its function will be incorporated in the Corporate Planning Department.

The Subaru Next Story Promotion Office will be terminated, and its function will be incorporated in the Japan Sales & Marketing Division.

###

[PDF/211 KB]

India’s Ola spins out a dedicated EV business — and it just raised $56M from investors

Ola, Uber’s key rival in India, is doubling down on electric vehicles after it span out a dedicated business, which has pulled in $56 million in early funding. The unit is named Ola Electric Mobility and it is described as being an independent business that’s backed by Ola. TechCrunch understands Ola provided founding capital, and… Continue reading India’s Ola spins out a dedicated EV business — and it just raised $56M from investors

Volkswagen Group Components to produce fast charging station with storage

In 2020, Volkswagen Group Components, an independent business unit of Volkswagen AG, will start production of a fast charging station capable of charging four vehicles simultaneously and providing energy storage when not in use. The charging stations will be manufactured at a components plant in Hanover, replacing the plant’s current heat exchanger production area. The… Continue reading Volkswagen Group Components to produce fast charging station with storage

Tesla closing retail stores in shift to online-only sales strategy

Tesla is moving all of its sales online, a dramatic shift in its sales strategy that will result in the closure of stores and some layoffs as the automaker looks for ways to reduce costs in order to bring a cheaper Model 3 to market. Tesla CEO Elon Musk didn’t say how many stores would… Continue reading Tesla closing retail stores in shift to online-only sales strategy

Ford slashes 2000 jobs in China after sales drop nearly 40% – Nikkei Asian Review

BEIJING/TOKYO — Ford Motor’s main Chinese joint venture is reducing its workforce by 2,000, or about 10%, after suffering a sharp reversal in the world’s biggest auto market. Several executives revealed the decision to cut jobs at Changan Ford Automobile, which is owned equally by Ford and state-owned China Changan Automobile Group. Changan Ford’s cuts mostly affect its main… Continue reading Ford slashes 2000 jobs in China after sales drop nearly 40% – Nikkei Asian Review

Alliance Ventures invests in Chinese charging platform startup PowerShare

Alliance Ventures, the venture capital arm of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, has invested an undisclosed amount in PowerShare, an EV charging platform startup based in China. PowerShare, which received investment from BP Ventures just weeks before this latest investment, offers an online platform that connects EV drivers, charge point operators, and power suppliers. The startup’s cloud-based system enables… Continue reading Alliance Ventures invests in Chinese charging platform startup PowerShare

SoftBank’s Vision Fund invests $1.5B in Chinese second-hand car startup Chehaoduo

SoftBank’s Vision Fund is taking a bet on China’s auto market after it agreed to pour $1.5 billion into online car trading group Chehaoduo, which literally means “many cars” in Chinese. The Beijing-based company operates two main sites — peer-to-peer online marketplace Guazi for used vehicles, and Maodou, which retails new sedans through direct sales… Continue reading SoftBank’s Vision Fund invests $1.5B in Chinese second-hand car startup Chehaoduo