The car man who says no

摘要

When Honda was in trouble in 1992, shortly after the death of its founder, Soichiro Honda, it seemed to have little chance of avoiding a takeover. Mr Honda's successor, Nobuhiko Kawamoto, pulled out of Formula One racing and booted out many of the firm's clever but overly fiddly engineers, replacing them with marketing experts. But the man who took over as chief executive two years ago, Hiroyuki Yoshino, has put Honda back on the grid as partner to British American Racing. Under his guidance, the company has clung to its independence and regained much of its old confidence, despite the huge pressure that a strong yen has put on profits, and despite being dwarfed by its rivals.