Takashi Yamanouchi, Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer for Mazda Motor Corporation, will kick off the Los Angeles Auto Show Press Days with the Motor Press Guild (MPG) keynote address on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. The MPG presentation and Yamanouchi’s address are open to all credentialed media attending the show’s Press Days Nov. 16 and 17. A Q-and-A session will be part of the event.

Yamanouchi, who has been with Mazda for more than four decades and has served three years as CEO, will offer a frontline perspective of lessons learned in the aftermath of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as well as how the automotive industry is adapting in the midst of rapidly changing economic conditions around the world.

“Mazda is a unique, engineering-focused company that has blazed its own path to success,” said Laura Burstein, Motor Press Guild president. “We look forward to hearing what Yamanouchi-san has to say about the current state of the automotive industry.”

This will be the 13th year the MPG presentation has opened the L.A. Auto Show Press Days. Preceding the keynote speech will be a welcome address from Mitch Bainwol, the newly-named president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.