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25/06/2007 - New General Manager for Honda Motorcycles

Honda recently appointed Steve Martindale as its new General Manager of the Motorcycle Division.

A lifelong motorcycle enthusiast, Steve’s interest in biking started when a teacher got him interested in two wheels. Steve recalls: “All the kids who didn’t like going to lessons helped out fixing a scooter which got me into bikes in general. Sadly I never got a go on it! From there my dad bought an engine from a scrapyard which I later put together and also an ex-GPO Bantam which I fixed up.”

Having been bitten by the biking bug, a lucky win on the MCN spot the motoball competition meant that Steve won a bike of his own!
Since then Steve’s work career has spanned everything from a time-served car mechanic apprenticeship to latterly running Honda’s UK Company Vehicle Operation, a stand-alone Leasing Company operating the vehicle fleets for all the Honda businesses in the UK – a £150m turnover business operating a fleet of around 6000 units and selling over 12000 used cars per year.

Despite this background in cars, motorcycles have always remained a passion. Since joining Honda in 1994 Steve’s ambition has been to run the motorcycle division. He says: “It sounds twee, but it’s true. During all my assessments and appraisals I’ve always said I’ve wanted this job. It’s my dream job!”

Steve, who was appointed in April, says he’s looking forward to continuing the work of his predecessor, Mark Davies, who heads to a new position within Honda Europe.