Charles R. Hughes was named president of Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations to fill the spot after the departure of Richard Beattie to Mazda’s ultimate parent, Ford Motor Co., as its vice president of investor relations. Beattie’s tenure as chief executive began in 1997.
Hughes also was named a senior advisor of Mazda Motor Corp. in Tokyo, Japan.
From 1986 to 1999, Hughes was the president and chief executive at Land Rover North America, which may soon become a Ford subsidiary.
“Hughes is someone who clearly knows the car business, particularly the import market in the U.S.,” said Mark Fields, president of Mazda Motor Corp.
The move comes amid Mazda Motor warnings of future losses, though the company improved its auto sales by 14% last year and expects to grow them 10% this year.
Nevertheless, Mazda Motor said it will lose money in 2001, its first annual loss after two years of profits. In 1998, the company lost $95.2 million but made $181.9 million in 1999 and had earnings of $69.5 million for the 2000 fiscal year ended June 30.
Mazda Motor Corp. expects to lose about $30 million in fiscal 2001. The company said the expected loss is due to lower utilization at one of its plants, a damaging swing in the dollar-yen exchange rate, higher incentive spending and a lack of products for the truck and sport utility markets. Mazda returned to the sport utility market this year for the first time since 1994, when it cut production of the Navajo, a two-door sport utility. Mazda just released the Tribute, a full-size sport utility vehicle that will hit U.S. showrooms this year.
Hughes started his career in the automotive industry in 1967 with General Motors Corp. In 1973 he joined American Motors and a few years after that, he joined Doyle Dane Bernbach, an advertising firm in New York where he managed marketing and advertising strategies for Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi. In 1978 he joined Fiat as head of marketing operations, and was responsible for the Fiat, Lancia and Ferrari brands. A year later he joined Volkswagen as head of marketing for the Porsche and Audi division.
