Mitsubishi Motors Announces Personnel Changes at Okazaki Plant and Thailand Affiliate
Mitsubishi Motors will retire a corporate officer, hand over its Okazaki plant general manager role, and name a new manufacturing executive for its Thailand affiliate.
- 3
- 2026-09-30
- 2026-10-01
- 2026-09-01
What Happened
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation has announced personnel changes affecting its Okazaki Plant and its Thailand affiliate. The moves include a retirement, a new plant general manager, and a new manufacturing executive for Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) Co., Ltd. The changes take effect between September 1 and October 1, 2026.
Rikiho Tohda becomes EVP (Manufacturing) at Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) Co., Ltd., moving from a secondment to MMTh.
Ken Hamazaki retires from his role as Corporate Officer and Plant General Manager, Okazaki Plant.
Nobuhiko Koizumi, currently EVP (Manufacturing) at MMTh, becomes Plant General Manager, Okazaki Plant.
The announcement is split into two parts: important personnel changes and important personnel changes in an affiliate. In the corporate changes, Ken Hamazaki retires on September 30, 2026, and Nobuhiko Koizumi becomes Plant General Manager of the Okazaki Plant on October 1, 2026. For the affiliate, Rikiho Tohda becomes EVP (Manufacturing) at MMTh on September 1, 2026. MMTh stands for Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
Why this matters
These personnel moves put new leaders in charge of manufacturing at Mitsubishi's Okazaki Plant and at Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) Co., Ltd., two production operations that support the automaker's output. For a beginner, leadership changes like these show how a carmaker manages continuity at its factories and overseas affiliates. The September and October 2026 effective dates mean the transitions overlap, with one leader moving from Thailand back to Japan.
Terms in This Story
- Corporate Officer
- A senior executive title used by Japanese companies, typically designating an officer of the corporation.
- EVP
- Executive Vice President, a high-ranking corporate officer.
- Secondment
- Temporary assignment of an employee to another company or role, often for a fixed period.
- Plant General Manager
- The executive responsible for overall operations at a manufacturing plant.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.