Akihiko Saito
ToyotaDevelopment team member / Development lead
Development lead of the sixth and seventh-generation Corollas, who took the seventh generation upmarket
Timeline
- 1968
Joined
- 1977
Celica 2nd generation1977–1981Development team member
2F Liaison Group
Development team member
Models it produced
A top-secret switch to front-wheel drive and Cameroon's rough roads
For the switch of the fifth-generation Corolla to front-wheel drive, the very fact that Toyota was planning front-wheel drive was top secret, so it was a small, elite project named the 2F Liaison Group, avoiding the term front-wheel drive. As a member, Saito took a prototype to Cameroon in Africa, fitted it with measuring instruments, and drove it around rough, pothole-ridden roads for more than a month.
- 1987
Corolla 6th generation1987–1991Development lead
- 1991
Corolla 7th generation1991–2002Development lead
A Corolla that wouldn't look poor next to the Celsior
The Celsior had debuted two years before the seventh generation. Saito felt the Corolla must not look poor next to the Celsior, and gave it a luxury specification not only in equipment but also in ride comfort and quietness. With the determination that the Corolla would lead the way, he adopted parts suppliers' latest technology, and development teams for other cars complained that if the Corolla did it, they would have to do it too.
Director
- 2001
Director and Executive Vice President
- 2016
Advisor
Connections
Akihiko Saito
Profile
Graduated from Nagoya University Graduate School, Graduate School of Engineering. Development lead for the sixth- and seventh-generation Corolla. On the fifth-generation Corolla, he took part in development as a member of the project to switch it to front-wheel drive.
Translated from Japanese sources.
Toyota engineers
- Akio YoshidaMR2
- Hiroshi OsawaHilux
- Kenichi ImaizumiCrown
- Toshihiro OkadaSoarer
- Fumio AgetsumaCorolla / Sprinter
- Shigeo AsaiHilux
- Ichiro SuzukiCelsior
- Kazuhiko ShindoCrown