akanobu Ito To Succeed Takeo Fukui As Honda CEO

Takanobu Ito, has been tapped to succeed Takeo Fukui as the next president and CEO of Honda Motor Co. starting in June.

Takanobu Ito, currently the head of global automotive operations at Honda Motor Co., has been tapped as the automaker's next president and CEO starting in June.

Ito, 57, succeeds Takeo Fukui, 64, who has held the post since 2003 and has struggled as of late as the company grapples with global sales declines and a strong yen.The shuffle will be approved at a board of directors' meeting scheduled for late June, Honda said early today.

[via Automotive News]

Leakage: Euro-spec 2009 Honda Insight

We're still six days away from the official unveiling of the 2009 Honda Insight at the Detroit Auto Show, but the crew at Carscoop just couldn't wait to release images of the European-spec hybrid ahead of its debut. The Euro model shown here won't differ too much from the U.S. version, but the stylistic differences between the production version and its conceptual predecessor are obvious at first glance. As we've seen before, the front fascia carries over largely unchanged, although the technorific LED headlamps, deeply recessed fog lamps/air intakes and gaudy brightwork are all left on the designer's desk. The side mirrors have grown in proportion to the door handles, and the C-pillar is noticeably thicker than the concept that bowed in Paris. The rear has also been smoothed over, with the Prius-esque (or is that CRX-inspired?) hatch losing a bit of glass, along with the contoured cut-out for the license plate, which is now mounted lower on the bumper, with a prominent "H" badge floating on a body-colored panel. Although the interior hasn't been revealed in full, we get a brief glimpse of the central-mounted tach, "eco" gauges and second tier speedo, which benefits from a backlight that transitions from green to blue when the driver mashes the accelerator and unleashes the full fury of the small-displacement engine through the CVT gearbox. Sales will begin in the U.S. and abroad this spring, with a starting price rumored to hover around $20,000. [Source: Carscoop]