The board of directors at the Pak Suzuki Motors Company has appointed Masafumi Harano as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, read a statement issued on Monday.

In his years-long association with Suzuki Motors Corporation, Harano was responsible for Suzuki’s overseas automobile marketing in Southeast Asia and North America, as well as the company’s auto product planning department in Hamamatsu, Japan, it said.

In its statement, the automobile production company said, "The appointment of the new CEO is a strategic move" in accordance with the overall automobile industry "witnessing a phase of expansion and growth".

The industry also sees a period of the high demand of cars along with increasing competition among the local players with the onset of new entrants, it added.

The experts expect a likelihood of a shift in policy especially the investment approach and aggressive strategy of the company during the next three to five years in which the demand is expected to increase.

Pak Suzuki Company Limited (PSMC) has attained a benchmark of Rs. 1 billion quarterly profit in the first quarter of 2017.

The company had planned to invest $460 million in its expansion of productions assembly and relevant operations but the decision is reportedly under pressure due to the government’s unclear regulatory policies and taxation issues.

Outgoing CEO Appointed as Senior Advisory Director

The new CEO of Pakistan Suzuki Motors Company will replace Hirofumi Nagao, who has been appointed as the Senior Advisory Director in the company. The outgoing CEO will remain on the board of the company as an Executive Director.

Hirofumi Nagao has served the Pakistani market since June 2008. His term as CEO has been considered as good at Pak Suzuki as the company is making profits owing to high demand in the local market.

Moreover, the board also appointed Shigeo Takezawa as a director of the company along with Masafumi Harano. They replaced the two directors naming Tetsuya Fujiko and Minoru Amano.

This article originally appeared on ProPakistani and has been reproduced with permission.