Honda Australia’s Smalley steps down

HONDA Australia senior director Lindsay Smalley will step down from the board of the Japanese car importer on October 1.

He will be replaced as a director by general manager sales and marketing Stephen Collins, but the senior director role – the most senior Australian appointment at the company – remains vacant for now.

Mr Smalley, who is also a vice-president and life member of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, will stay on as an advisor to the Honda board – a role held by previous retired senior directors at the Tullamarine-based company – as well as a company spokesman.

The board changes were announced by Honda Australia managing director and CEO Satoshi Matsuzawa, who thanked Mr Smalley for his contribution to Honda over the past 22 years.

“Lindsay joined Honda in 1989 and has enjoyed a long and successful career,” he said.

“He has made a significant and positive contribution to the company. We are delighted that he has decided to stay on in an advisory role until he is ready to retire and look forward to continuing to work closely with him in the future.”

Mr Smalley joined Honda as an information technology professional in 1989 and went on to hold various senior roles such as parts and service senior manager and New South Wales zone manager before being appointed a director in 2000 and then senior director in 2003 after the retirement of Neal Robertson.

Left: Stephen Collins.

He oversaw a dramatic rise in Honda sales that doubled in just four years, from 30,813 in 2003 to 60,529 in 2007, before they spiraled down just as dramatically.

This year, Honda sales have fallen 23 per cent compared with the first eight months of 2010 and look set for a 12-month tally of about 30,000 – back to where the company started in 2003.

Honda’s dramas were compounded recently when one of its biggest dealerships, Rick Damelian Honda in Sydney’s inner west, was placed in receivership.

Mr Smalley, a vehicle importer representative on the FCAI board, was rewarded this year for his service to the organisation with life membership, announced at the annual dinner in May.

Mr Collins started his automotive career at Honda in marketing before shifting to Nissan Australia, where he held a similar role in charge of light commercial vehicles, before rising through the ranks to become general manager sales and marketing.

He returned to Honda Australia in 2009 to head up the sales and marketing department and try to stem the year-on-year sales decline.

In 2010, the Honda sales slip was restricted to 2.6 per cent in a market that increased 10.5 per cent.

This year, the slide resumed, with all Honda models feeling the pain, particularly the ageing Civic (down 35 per cent) and Accord (down 46.5 per cent).