Nissan Celebrates 50 Years of Design Leadership
November 10, 2004 | Levent OZLER
Officially, the department is known as Nissan Design and this year it celebrates its 50th anniversary of being a definitive influence on motoring style and performance.
In the past four years alone, Nissan designers have developed 23 new models and 19 concept cars. At Nissan, they call it the 'imagination factory' - an apt name for a department that has half a century of experience in shaping some of the world's most popular and successful cars.
Some can even trace their roots back to the early days of the original 1954 design department which was then the powerhouse of the Datsun brand. Among its early classics were the Fairlady 1500 roadster and the Bluebird 310 sedan, forerunners of the Fairlady Z and the 240Z which have evolved into today's Nissan 350Z.
Currently, Nissan's design department employs some 700 people in six design centres: three in Japan, two in the US, and one in the UK. Heading the department is Shiro Nakamura, who has now fulfilled a boyhood dream of creating vehicles that would be driven and admired all over the world.
Nakamura is recognised as one of the most influential designers in the international auto industry and was general manager of Isuzu's design centre when Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn persuaded him to become Nissan's chief designer.
Ghosn's bold plan for a Nissan renaissance was rooted in financial reform, but he was also very conscious that this was only one of the keys to survival. Renewal, and ultimately growth, depended upon new, exciting products as well. Hence Nakamura's appointment.
An artist and musician who has worked in the United States and Europe, Nakamura is a car enthusiast who had made his name over a 25-year period before joining Nissan as design director in 1999, and his 2001 appointment as Senior Vice-President, Design.
Some of the key products since his appointment are the all-new 350Z, the Altima, the Murano, and more than two dozen new or radically changed models that are emerging from dream to reality.
Takeshi Nakajima, Regional Director at Nissan Middle East said: 'Bold and innovative designs consistently reflect the spirit of Nissan in all products. What we aim at is the fusion of bold, clear and innovative design and advanced technology thought out for human benefits based on the Nissan heritage and the Japanese culture.
'We consider design as the interface between customers and the Nissan brand, expressing the distinctiveness of Nissan through encounters of all kinds with customers, and putting Nissan's vision into reality.
'Our goal is very clear and never changes - to establish a strong brand with world-leading designs. Now 50 years on, that challenge still continues, without ever being satisfied with ourselves'.
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