Sojitz G Auto Philippines (SGAP), the official local distributor of Geely vehicles in the country has announced that its President & CEO Mikihisa Takayama will end his assignment this month to fulfill a new role in SGAP’s mother company, Sojitz Corporation in Tokyo, Japan. Taking over his role as the new President and CEO is SGAP’s current Executive Vice President, Yosuke Nishi.
Geely was launched in the country last September 2019 under SGAP. As the company’s President & CEO since 2019, Takayama led SGAP to aggressively move in making Geely’s presence known in the local car market consistently with its successful launches of the Geely Coolray as well as the Azkarra and Okavango in spite of the fragile state of the auto industry as a result of the pandemic.
During his term, Takayama directed the Geely brand to achieve its milestones as a young brand in the Philippine automotive market. Since then, Geely has consistently logged high sales, with the Coolray managing to be the top-selling model in its class in most months from 2020 to 2021. More recently, SGAP announced that it has maintained its top 10 industry ranking in March keeping number 9 position in total industry sales.
Sojitz G Auto Philippines (SGAP) Executive Vice President and incoming President and CEO Yosuke Nishi | Photo by Geely Philippines
Nishi will take the helm as SGAP’s new President & CEO on May 1, 2021. As SGAP’s Executive Vice President, he has been working alongside Takayama in steering SGAP in the right direction since 2019.
Nishi started his automotive stint in the Philippines as an executive from 2012-2018. He admitted that he learned to love the country and the Filipinos.
“Since I am really fascinated by the Filipino culture, I wanted to come back to the Philippines. And during my short stay in Japan, I had been visiting the Philippines for the preparation of the establishment of SGAP. I have worked on getting approval from Sojitz to establish the Geely business,” SGAP’s incoming President & CEO Yosuke Nishi said.
Being hands-on with the rise of the Geely brand in the country, the incoming SGAP President & CEO has definitely built a deep connection with the business, even calling it his ‘baby’.
“Since SGAP, the Geely business in the Philippines is my baby, I felt the need to grow it together with our customers and business partners. I want to assure everyone that SGAP/Geely Philippines can give the best services and experiences to the customers,” Nishi added.