US – Suheb Haq of GM will become the first president of the newly created Fuel Cell System Manufacturing (FCSM) while Tomomi Kosaka of Honda will serve as its vice-president. The board of directors will comprise three executives from each company and will include a rotating chairperson.
Together, Haq and Kosaka will bear responsibility for the start up of the joint venture and ongoing manufacturing operations. GM and Honda will exchange the positions of president and vice-president every two years.
Haq’s most recent role was as director of operational excellence, GM, while Kosaka was president and CEO of Honda of America Manufacturing, with responsibility for three vehicle plants and one engine factory in Ohio.
On the board of directors, GM will be represented by:– Charles Freese, executive director, Global Fuel Cell Business;– David Maday, executive director, Corporate Development;– Robert Portugaise, executive director, Manufacturing Engineering.
Honda will be represented by:– Takashi Sekiguchi, managing officer, director and chief operating officer, Automobile Operations, Honda Motor; he will be the first chairperson of FCSM;– Mitsugu Matsukawa, operating officer and chief operating officer, IT Operations and head of Production Planning Supervisory Unit, Production Operations, Honda Motor;– Rick Schostek, executive vice-president, Honda North America.
FCSM was established in January this year with equal investments from GM and Honda totalling $85m. Located within GM’s existing battery-pack facility at Brownstown in Michigan, the company will mass-produce an advanced hydrogen fuel-cell system to be used in future vehicles from both companies. Production will be launched in 2020, creating 100 new jobs.
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