TORRANCE, Calif. -

Brian Butts may have been destined for the auto business ever since the first words that came out of his mouth as a baby.

What’s more, the lifelong “first love” of this born-and-bred Los Angeles man has four wheels.

“My first love has always been cars,” said Butts, who was recently named manager of auto remarketing at American Honda Motor Co. to replace the retiring Dan Crowe. “In fact, that was probably my first word. It wasn’t ‘momma’ or ‘dada,’ it was probably ‘car.’

“So, I was the one sneaking in to auto shows when I couldn’t afford to go,” he said.

That passion led him to American Honda Motor Co., a place Butts has called home for two decades.

Ever since graduating from Howard University in 1992, he’s been a Honda man, holding positions across the board for the Japanese automaker, including such areas as shows and exhibits, advertising, marketing and brand development

And just days before celebrating his 20th anniversary on July 6, Butts started his new role heading up remarketing and CPO.

He fills the shoes of Crowe, a longtime CPO leader who retired in June after spending the last 13-plus years as the national remarketing manager. Before that, Crowe spent 15 years as the national market representation manager for the Acura division.

As he began his tenure leading the CPO activities at Honda and Acura, Butts shared some of the goals he has for the respective programs.

“Some of the goals would include continuing to surpass previous results. For 2011, we had 229,000 certified sales for Honda and 48,000-plus sales for Acura,” he said. “We want to continue to growth the business, continue to be a profit center for our dealers and we want to make sure we continue with putting good product out there for consumers.

“We have a golden opportunity — knowing that certified used car is a gateway into our brands,” Butts continued. “And on the Honda side, a large percent of the people who purchased a certified used car are new to the Honda brand entirely. So they’re not just getting an introduction to Honda, but specifically the Honda dealer and model they are driving as well.

“And we know that almost a quarter of them that return to market do so and purchase a new car or another certified used car,” Butts continued. “Customer loyalty is important to the Honda and Acura brand, and we know there is an opportunity to grow that aspect of our business.”