Isuzu Australia Limited (IAL) has announced the appointment of Matt Sakhaie to the role of Chief of Product during a critical time for the vehicle-maker, ahead of the 2025 Australian launch of its new vehicle range.
Sakhaie’s promotion is the latest step in a successful career with IAL. He first joined the company back in 2010, and has a broad range of experience across a number of areas of the business.
He will now lead a Product division whose remit includes both product development and homologation engineering, and in-house, second stage manufacturing – all managed on-site at IAL’s Melbourne-based Product Development Centre (PDC) and Isuzu Production Centre (IPC).
IAL Director and COO Andrew Harbison says Sakhaie’s experience across IAL’s operations have made him the perfect candidate for promotion into his new role.
“We deliver a huge range of truck models and variants to a diverse range of customers across light, medium and heavy-duty requirements,” Harbison says.
“It’s a massive task, and one we expect to become increasingly more complex in the coming years.
“In this respect, Matt’s experience of this industry sand IAL’s business is invaluable, and his promotion reflects this.
“In 2025, Isuzu will be bringing its first new all-model line-up to the Australian market since 2008.
“This has required Matt and the Product division to engage closely with our parent company in Japan and the wider customer network to ensure the right model mix will be heading our way.”
Sakhaie’s appointment is the latest in a number of changes IAL has made to beef out its product team in the face of increasingly complex customer and regulatory requirements.
Among the changes has been the appointment of Product Managers, with each responsible for the lifecycle management of specific model ranges.
Sakhaie says this level of unique knowledge within the product team ensures IAL is ready to meet its Australian customers’ needs.
“This level of ‘pinnacle knowledge’ ensures our portfolio of products continues to meet our customers’ needs and we maintain a superior solution offering compared to our competitors,” Sakhaie says.
“The other crucial part is our in-house production capability or second-stage manufacturing. This function adds significant value to our product line-up.”
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