Suheb Haq of General Motors (left) and Tomomi Kosaka of Honda
Last month, General Motors and Honda announced that they were joining forces to produce hydrogen fuel cells. Today, the automakers announced the executive structure for their new joint venture company, Fuel Cell System Manufacturing, LLC (FCSM).
GM’s Suheb Haq will serve as the first president of FCSM, while Honda’s own Tomomi Kosaka will act as vice president, though GM and Honda will be rotating those roles every two years. Together, Haq and Kosaka will be responsible for overseeing the start-up of the JV and ongoing manufacturing operations.
Haq most recently served as director of GM Operational Excellence, while Kosaka was responsible for manufacturing operations of three auto plants and an engine plant in Ohio in his capacity as president and CEO of Honda of America Mfg., Inc.
Three executives from both Honda and GM will serve on the board of FCSM, with the role of chairperson continually rotating, similar to the president and vice-president roles. Honda representatives to the FCSM board of directors will include Takashi Sekiguchi, Managing Officer and Director/Chief Operating Officer, Automobile Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.; Mitsugu Matsukawa, Operating Officer/ Chief Operating Officer, IT Operations/ Head of Production Planning Supervisory Unit, Production Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.; and Rick Schostek, Executive Vice President, Honda North America, Inc. Sekiguchi will act as the first chairperson of the FCSM board of directors.
Representing GM on the FCSM board of directors will be Charles Freese, Executive Director of Global Fuel Cell Business; David Maday, Executive Director of Corporate Development; and Robert Portugaise, Executive Director of Manufacturing Engineering.
Honda and GM made equal investments into FCSM, for a total of $85 million, establishing the auto industry’s first manufacturing joint venture to mass-produce an advanced hydrogen fuel cell system. Both companies intend to use the resulting powertrain in future products. In 2020, FCSM will begin operating at GM’s battery pack manufacturing facility site in Brownstown, Michigan, creating nearly 100 new jobs.
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