In the pursuit of 30,000 annual unit sales by 2020, Mr Koichiro (Yoshi) Yoshida has been appointed to the board of Isuzu UTE Australia (IUA) and will take responsibility for Sales, Marketing & PR as well as the recently opened Sydney Regional Office. Mr Yugo (Hugo) Kiyofuji, who was previously responsible for those areas, will continue as Deputy Managing Director of IUA, and will focus on the ever growing opportunity of Fleet Sales and Product Planning.
Yoshi brings vast experience from Thailand and Europe, where he has been responsible for various elements of Isuzu business, encompassing Sales, Marketing and Aftersales. In particular, his knowledge and experience working in Thailand, the largest 1 tonne Ute market in the world, has given him a deep understanding of the segment and of the Isuzu brand.
It is an exciting time for IUA, as Yoshi's in-depth knowledge of the Isuzu brand and ute segment, combined with the current in-house expertise of Mike Conybeare (General Manager - Marketing & PR) and Ben Jaeger (Deputy General Manager – Sales) is set to take IUA to the next level.
"The appointment of Yoshi as an additional Director for IUA is testament to the fact that Isuzu recognises the Australian market as the most important export market in the world," said IUA's Managing Director Mr Hiro Kuramoto. "Our recent sales achievements in Australia have been duly recognised and the growing management team here is now well positioned to drive the brand forward into its next stage of growth."
"I am delighted to be joining Hiro and the rest of the team at IUA in their journey as they navigate the Australian market so successfully," Mr Yoshida said. "I am excited and privileged to be joining a company with such a great track record and look forward to the exciting challenge of double-digit growth for the 10th year since our inception in Australia, as well as our goal of 30,000 unit annual sales in 2020."
About Isuzu UTE Australia
Based in Brisbane, Queensland, Isuzu UTE Australia was founded in 2008 bringing the award winning Isuzu D-MAX to Australia and then in 2013, the Isuzu MU-X 7 seat SUV. Despite being comparatively new to Australia, our global network is extremely well established with over 100 years of automotive experience and expertise behind us.
We are a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan's largest trading and investment company, Mitsubishi Corporation, with which Isuzu Motors Limited has extensive business arrangements. Isuzu dates back to 1916 and is now one of the world's largest manufacturers of trucks and diesel engines. Producing heavy, medium and light-duty trucks, buses, passenger vehicle engines, marine and industrial-use diesel engines, Isuzu Motors is at the forefront of vehicle chassis and diesel engine technology.
Our resources and automotive knowledge is vast, illustrated by the quality of our product which is developed specifically for the Australian market. With a network of over 140 authorised Isuzu UTE dealers across every state and territory in Australia, we pride ourselves on providing the highest level of service and support throughout the entire country, which is validated by our numerous class-leading customer satisfaction awards.