was a Japanese businessman who was the president and CEO of the

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

Career

Tadashi Kume joined

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

in 1954, eventually becoming Honda's 3rd president in 1983. He specialized in designing engines, and, along with other engineers, helped develop the fuel-efficient

CVCC CVCC, or , is an internal combustion engine technology developed and trademarked by the Honda Motor Company. The technology's name refers to its primary features: Compound refers to the use of two combustion chambers; Vortex refers to the vort ...

. Before becoming president, Kume had a heated argument with then Honda president

Soichiro Honda was a Japanese engineer and industrialist. In 1948, he established Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and oversaw its expansion from a wooden shack manufacturing bicycle motors to a multinational automobile and motorcycle manufacturer. Early years Honda ...

over using

air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...

water-cooled Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and n ...

engines, which led Kume to stay away from work for possibly over a month. He retired in June 1990, and was succeeded by

Nobuhiko Kawamoto was the CEO of Honda Motor from 1990 to 1998. Biography After graduating from Tohoku University in 1963, he joined the Honda F1 team as a design engineer. After Honda pulled out of F1 after the 1968 season to focus on production vehicles, he retur ...

. Kume is honored in the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame.

References

1931 births 2022 deaths Japanese chief executives Japanese automotive engineers Honda people Shizuoka University alumni Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon People from Hyōgo Prefecture {{japan-business-bio-stub