Carolyn McMahon, President of Honda New Zealand, embodies a rare blend of deep institutional knowledge and forward-thinking leadership. With a career spanning over three decades exclusively within the Honda family, McMahon’s journey from a personal assistant to a board member across two countries offers a unique perspective on navigating the automotive industry’s evolving landscape.
A Career Forged in Honda
McMahon’s connection with Japan began at 16 as a Rotary exchange student, fostering a lifelong affinity that led her to study Japanese, HR, and management at university. Her professional life with Honda commenced at 25 as a personal assistant to the Japanese managing director of Honda Motorcycles and Power Equipment. This initial role was merely the first step in a remarkable 31-year tenure, as she states, “I joined them when I was 25 and I haven’t left so coming up to 31 years”. This period has seen her traverse virtually every facet of the business, moving from motorbikes to power equipment, marine, and cars, changing careers every couple of years but never the employer.
Her career at Honda Australia included stints in back office operations, regional management, dealer support, sales and marketing, IT, finance, and compliance. This comprehensive exposure culminated in her appointment to the Honda Australia board in 2017. In 2024, she further extended her leadership to the Honda New Zealand board, relocating to Auckland in April of the previous year. McMahon’s leadership philosophy is rooted in a “very curious sort of approach to leadership and how to get the best out of teams and how can teams really contribute to transforming organisations”.
Navigating the New Zealand Market
Upon assuming her role in New Zealand, McMahon’s immediate priority has been to enhance the capability of Honda New Zealand’s team. She emphasises, “really, concentrating at the moment on increasing the capability within Honda New Zealand because, the competitive landscape is fierce and having the best team possible in place is how we’re going to fight in that landscape”.
Honda in New Zealand boasts an impressive 70% Honda-to-Honda retention rate, one of the highest globally. While this fosters a strong “Honda family” culture, it also presents a challenge, how to attract new customers and prevent the existing loyal base from aging out or considering other brands. McMahon’s strategy involves balancing this strong retention with “conquest activities” to bring new people to the brand, stating, “our challenge is to keep that really strong culture that we have already. but also bring new people to the brand by making our conquest activities be more visible in the market”. Upcoming models like the Prelude are expected to spark just such renewed interest.
A Pragmatic Approach to Electrification
Addressing recent news regarding Honda’s battery electric vehicle (BEV) strategy, McMahon clarifies that any perceived “loss” or “flip-flop” is a “calibration of the path that we’re taking, rather than the destination”. Honda’s philosophy of “listening to the customer” dictates a focus on transitional technologies like hybrids, as many consumers are not yet fully ready for pure EVs . She explains, “if the customer’s not yet ready entirely to move to that new technology, then we should be concentrating more on the transitional technology, which e:HEV hybrid fits nicely into”.
The e:N1 served as an initial foray into electric vehicles, a “first toe in the water for electric” for early adopters. However, the immediate future sees a significant push towards hybrids, with 13 to 15 new hybrid models in the global pipeline, some of which will reach New Zealand. This year promises a busy product pipeline for New Zealand, including minor model changes for the CR-V and ZR-V, the return of the Prelude, the “Super One” in the second half, a Civic minor model change, and (you heard it here first) a larger SUV featuring next-generation hybrid technology.
The Honda Driving Experience and Design Philosophy
McMahon strongly advocates for Honda’s core identity, “fun to drive”. She believes that models like the ZR-V, Prelude, and Type R exemplify Honda’s racing spirit and challenging ethos, offering a competitive advantage against increasingly commoditised products. She states, “from its origins Honda has always been around that racing spirit around the challenging spirit and about being fun to drive”.
Honda’s design philosophy, “man maximum, machine minimum,” prioritises the driver and passenger experience. This is evident in the deliberate choice to retain physical controls over large, distracting touchscreens, ensuring that the car serves the person, not the other way around. This focus underpins the “joy of creating, joy of selling, joy of buying” philosophy that guides Honda’s product development.
Competing in a Disrupted Market
The influx of new, often lower-priced, Chinese brands is disrupting the global and New Zealand automotive markets. McMahon acknowledges this intense competition but asserts that Honda will not engage in heavy discounting. She explains, “Honda’s never been a brand that will play the heavy discounting game”.
Instead, the brand will leverage its strengths, superior customer experience, robust after-sales service, proven quality, and reliability built over decades of global and local presence.
Regarding safety ratings, McMahon recognises the challenges posed by ANCAP’s evolving criteria, where the absence of certain features like driver attention monitors can impact a five-star rating, affecting fleet sales. Despite this, she emphasises that Honda cars have “never been safer” and that the company works to explain this to consumers and fleets, feeding feedback to the factory while operating within current regulatory frameworks.
Streamlining Operations and Future Engagement
In a significant operational shift, Honda New Zealand has moved its vehicle distribution from Nelson to Auckland. This decision, driven by efficiency and cost, was made after studies revealed that 80% of vehicles arriving in Auckland were being transshipped to Nelson only to be transported back to Auckland. Consolidating in Auckland is expected to reduce delivery times by over 15 days. McMahon notes that staff have been “very, very understanding and supportive” of the change. The company is also carefully managing its heritage vehicle collection and selecting a new external provider in Auckland for its distribution needs.
While Honda will engage selectively in car rentals to increase brand exposure, its core strength remains business-to-consumer sales, focusing on private buyers and encouraging test drives.
Tarmac Takeaway
Carolyn McMahon’s leadership at Honda New Zealand is characterised by a strategic balance, honoring Honda’s legacy of loyalty and driving enjoyment while pragmatically adapting to market shifts, particularly in electrification and competition. Her vision is to strengthen the brand’s position through an unwavering focus on customer experience, quality, and a dedicated team.
