Editor’s note: An earlier version of this report incorrectly characterized Honda Canada’s production facilities. It has two assembly lines.
Honda has turned to Dave Gardner, CEO of its Canadian unit, to run the automobile division of American Honda Motor Co. in the U.S. after last month’s abrupt exit of Henio Arcangeli Jr. in a dispute over his future role at the automaker.
Gardner’s appointment is effective May 1, and his formal title will be executive vice president and business unit head of automotive sales. He will also be executive vice president of the parts, service and technical business unit, Honda said in a press release Monday.
“Dave is a strong Honda leader who brings years of broad-based experience to this key position in our U.S. operations,” said American Honda CEO Shinji Aoyama. “He has extensive knowledge of the auto industry and is highly respected by our Honda and Acura dealers in Canada and by the leadership of our North American operations.”
Gardner is a 31-year veteran of Honda and is currently responsible for a broad portfolio of products for the Canadian unit, including Honda and Acura auto divisions, Honda motorcycles, power equipment, ATV and engine business, as well as the company’s Canadian manufacturing operations. He was named Canada CEO in early 2017.
Jean Marc Leclerc, Honda Canada’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, will succeed Gardner as CEO of Honda Canada. Light-vehicle sales at Honda Canada fell 3.4 percent last year to 188,828 in a market that was down 3.6 percent to 1.92 million vehicles.
Honda Canada has two assembly lines in Alliston, Ontario — last year, the company built 196,569 Civic compact cars and 211,195 CR-V compact crossovers. Combined production declined 5.8 percent. In addition, the automaker has an engine plant in Alliston that supplies the Civic and CR-V.
American Honda announced the surprise departure of Arcangeli after just two and a half years on the job “in order to spend more time with his family.”
Involuntarily reassigned
Arcangeli told Automotive News after the announcement that he was involuntarily reassigned to a new role helping to restructure Honda that would have begun April 1. But rather than take the assignment, Arcangeli said, he preferred to leave the company and focus on his family.
He also made it clear that if he had not been forced into a new role, he may have remained at Honda. “If this new role had not come up, I probably would have kept my head down going 100-plus miles an hour trying to do what I have to do to be successful at Honda,” he said.
Arcangeli had been considered an unusual choice for Honda because he was an outsider to both the Japanese automaker and to the auto industry as a whole, although he had worked for heavy-equipment maker Yanmar North America and Yamaha Motorsports Group, both of which are Japanese manufacturers with U.S. units.
His predecessor, John Mendel, was executive vice president of American Honda’s auto divisions for a decade. Mendel was an industry veteran, arriving at Honda in 2004 after holding executive positions at Mazda and Ford.
Gardner will join American Honda as the U.S. industry faces a potential slowdown in sales, though overall volume is projected to be a still-healthy mid- to high-16 million. Last year, the unit’s 0.2 percent increase in deliveries outpaced the market’s 1.2 percent decline. Part of Honda’s strategy led by Arcangeli has been the mantra “cars matter” — embracing cars such as the Civic and Accord, while some rivals pare down their car lineups in the market and focus on light trucks.
Said Arcangeli during an interview last year: “If you look at several manufacturers that are stepping away from passenger cars, that creates an opportunity for growing our market share — potentially growing our overall volume as well.”
Canada succession
Leclerc will take over for Gardner after about three years as head of Honda Canada sales and marketing. He joined the company in 1995 and has held roles including risk management officer and secretary of Honda Canada Finance Inc.
Leclerc has overseen a host of marketing efforts, recently including a revamp of Honda Canada’s approach to auto shows in the country. The company’s new stand, which was on hand for the Toronto and Montreal auto shows this year, features fewer vehicles on display and includes more information about the company’s culture, history and manufacturing.
“There’s still a lot of people that come to auto shows,” Leclerc told Automotive News Canada in January in Montreal. “But I think that what we want to do is make it more entertaining for them, addressing their need for entertainment and doing something different and more engaging.”
It was not immediately clear who would replace Leclerc in his current role.
John Irwin contributed to this report.