Late last year, a handful of retired Honda Motor executives started meeting privately to discuss the Japanese automaker¡¯s troubles and the person they believed was the cause: Chief Executive Toshihiro Mibe.
Over months of text messages, as well as meetings and meals that sometimes included current executives, they laid out a case against the former engineer, according to a written summary of their discussions and interviews with two participants.
They blamed Mibe for neglecting China, the world¡¯s biggest auto market, and making a ¡°failed¡± bet on electric vehicles that would leave Honda with its first annual loss in seven decades. They accused him of paying more attention to Honda¡¯s golf sponsorship than its business.
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