Dick Colliver Backs Away as Honda Sales Executive

With the economic crisis knocking on the door, there is a lot of pressure over automakers' executives and to be honest, not many people would like to be  in their shoes at the moment. Therefore, some executives would rather back away from the management board than assume responsibility for the poor sales.

We don't know if this is the case of Dick Colliver, the current executive vice president of sales within American Honda Motor Co. but one thing is sure: he decided to give up his current position in order to become senior adviser to the company effective April 1, Autonews reported. As senior adviser, Colliver's main responsibilities will be to provide strategic counsel, practical guidance and support to American Honda's dealers, management team and others.

For those who are not quite familiar with Colliver's name, the man joined Honda in 1993 as senior vice president of Honda Division. But before that, he worked for Mazda for more than 20 years where he occupied the positions of  district manager, group vice president and general manager.

As he decided to quit his current position, he will be replaced by John Mendel, a former Ford Motor Co. and Mazda executive who has been executive vice president of auto operations for American Honda since 2007. Mendel joined American Honda in December 2004 and after three years, he was promoted to executive vice president. He was in charge with product planning, advertising, marketing, public relations and distribution for both the Honda and Acura divisions.

As for Mr Mendel, he will be replaced by Takashi Sekiguchi, a man with consistent experience at Honda. He has been executive vice president of corporate affairs and product planning and now he is going to become the head of auto operations.