Hummel’s role at Honda has been centred on re-establishing the carmaker in the fleet market. Introducing the new 110g/km Honda Civic 2.2 diesel has contributed heavily to an 11% increase in fleet sales, and 26% increase in “true fleet” sales during his time in charge. The majority of business-use Civics are company cars, with three of the 1,714 sold going through Motability.

In the meantime, Honda now counts 430 of the UK’s 2,000 largest fleets among its customer base, compared to 310 at the start of 2011, Hummel told Fleet World in a recent interview.

Honda UK managing director, Dave Hodgetts, said: ‘I'd like to thank Ed for his great contribution to Honda over the last 18 months, he has been instrumental in building Honda’s presence in the fleet market. His new post at Glass’s is an excellent opportunity and I wish him every success for the future.’

Hummel added: ‘I will be leaving Honda with some very fond memories. Over the past 18 months I’ve worked with a great team and had the pleasure to launch the new version of the iconic Civic. I know Honda has a very exciting future with some brilliant products set to be launched over the next couple of years – I will be keeping a close eye on their progress.’

A successor will be announced in the near future.