Crown, Corona, Century… One engineer helped create some of Toyota’s best-known, most historically significant automobiles. His name was Kenya Nakamura.
In Toyota’s car production system, one chief engineer oversees and leads everything from planning, development, production, and sales for the vehicle model he is responsible for.
This position is based on the project general manager system, of which Nakamura was the first, and he laid the foundation for Toyota’s product development system.
As an engineer, he was drawn to founder Kiichiro Toyoda and wrote a letter that led to him joining Toyota. He achieved Kiichiro’s dream of making a domestically produced car with Japanese technology rather than technology from overseas.
The first-generation Crown was built small for Japan’s narrow roads, with good fuel efficiency and lots of cutting-edge ideas. As the man behind Japan’s first car radio*, his knowledge came from a commitment to sound that even led him to design his own speakers.
Nakamura, who had 10,000 books at home from his passion for research and study, was known for his vast knowledge and insight into the future.
His many achievements that remain today speak volumes, such as the 2000-tonne press still in operation over 70 years later, and the idea for a gas turbine used in hybrid systems…
He was an engineer who broke convention and stayed ahead of the times with his belief in “doing what he thought was right despite strong opposition and criticism.”
He leaves behind this ideal: “If you’re going to sell something with conviction, make something you truly think is good… The project general manager should also create a car they can call their own.”
See the first installment in the Biographies of Toyota Legends series, full of messages that still resonate in the present era.
＊A car radio was first installed in the Toyopet SA (1947). However, there weren’t many produced out of a plan to develop the technology further.
As mentioned above, the first-generation Crown was the first truly mass-produced car with a car radio. Watch this Toyota Legends video to learn more.
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