Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. has hired a new President starting July 1st, 2026. Eiko Kirino now takes over the position from Naoki Kawaguchi who will return to Kawasaki Motors, Ltd. in Japan after leading the North American operations for the past two years. With over 30 years at Kawasaki, Ms. Kirino most recently served as President of Kawasaki Motors Japan and has built a broad career overseeing Sales, Marketing, Product Planning, and Corporate Communications.
“As Kawasaki pursues its vision for sustainable, long-term global growth, the U.S. remains our most important market,” said Ms. Kirino. “It is both a tremendous honor and a personal joy for me to lead Kawasaki USA having long held a deep passion for powersports, both professionally and personally. As Kawasaki celebrates 60 years in the USA, our mission has been to bring Good Times to riders across America. As the Good Times Company, we are always challenging ourselves to develop and innovate new models that deliver happiness to everyone connected to Kawasaki and I look forward to working with our employees, dealers and partners to build on this proud legacy.”
Ms. Kirino began her tenure with Kawasaki first assigned to Kawasaki France where she was focused on growth through sales, market development and racing and later returned to Japan to lead the Sales Department for all of Europe. Her experience then focused on product planning for performance models such as the launch of the Ninja® H2 and again progressed as she was assigned to the position of General Manager of Kawasaki’s global marketing efforts. In 2021, Ms. Kirino was appointed to President of Kawasaki Motors Japan leading Kawasaki’s domestic sales within Japan before being called on to lead global strategy for corporate communications and external affairs.
As a motorcycle rider and enthusiast, Ms. Kirino is excited to build on the strong momentum that Kawasaki has established in North America and will oversee all Powersports and General Purpose Engine operations.
After joining Kawasaki USA in 2022, current President, Mr. Kawaguchi, will return to Kawasaki Motors, Ltd. in Japan. Mr. Kawaguchi has led the North American operations since 2024 and his time culminated with leading Kawasaki to achieve No. 1 Motorcycle market share in 2025.
