The News Wheel
No Comments

Silicon Valley Lab Leader Nick Sugimoto Is Who Makes a Honda [VIDEO]

Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page

Leader of Honda Silicon Valley Lab Featured in "Who Makes a Honda" Video

Honda has been running its “What Makes a Honda is Who Makes a Honda” video series on YouTube since 2014, focusing on one employee at a time. The idea is to put some faces to the diverse group of over 30,000 names that make up the Honda company in North America, from a Customer Service Manager in California to the 2017 Acura NSX Production Project Leader based in Ohio.

The latest associate to be profiled is Naoki “Nick” Sugimoto, who leads the Honda Silicon Valley Lab (HSVL) in California. As the Senior Program Director of HSVL, Sugimoto is responsible for spearheading global interactions between Honda and the technology companies it needs to create new and exciting products and features.

Take a look:

Though he graduated with an automotive engineering degree from the University of Tokyo, Sugimoto says he never planned to work in the car industry. Now, though, after 11 years working for Honda, it’s clear he’s had a change of heart. In fact, his devotion to the automaker is so great that he even named his son after founder Soichiro Honda!

Sugimoto is passionate about Honda’s history as well as its future, and takes seriously his role of creating partnerships with various tech leaders.

“A lot of change is happening in the technology and automotive industries, and going forward it is more important now than ever for Honda to work with innovators of all types to remain competitive,” Sugimoto says.

Sugimoto also says that the addition of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity to 2016 Honda models is just a taste of the exciting changes coming to the brand’s lineup.

“Your experience in the car is going to be very, very different in the future,” he promises.