Fumio Agetsuma
ToyotaDevelopment lead
Chief engineer who brought aerodynamics to the Corolla and opened the way to front-wheel drive
Timeline
- 1977
ToyotaChief engineer (shusa)
- 1979
Corolla 4th generation1979–1987Development lead
Teaching designers aerodynamics
As car performance rose, Agetsuma believed aerodynamics would become central to design. So he first gathered the designers and had the aerodynamics research group at Higashi-Fuji give them lectures. The fourth generation was designed on that basis; wind tunnel testing ran to more than 400 hours, and it appeared with a sharp, slant-nosed boxy form.
- 1983
Corolla 5th generation1983–1987Development lead
The next Corolla will be front-wheel drive
Some time after the fourth generation's launch, Agetsuma ordered a staff member to work full-time on development to make the next Corolla front-wheel drive. He had received reports from European homologation testing that front-wheel drive had the advantage in this class, and while the company was moving toward front-wheel drive little by little, he firmly believed it should start with the next model. Approval was slow to come, but at one point the go-ahead was given, the switch to front-wheel drive moved fast, and the fifth generation became a front-wheel-drive Corolla.
- 1983
Corolla 5th generation Corolla Levin1983–1987Development lead
- 1983
Sprinter 5th generation Sprinter Trueno1983–1987Development lead
Carrying On RWD in the Shadow of the Switch to FWD
Some time after the fourth-generation Corolla came out, chief engineer Agetsuma ordered staff member Takayasu Honda to work exclusively on developing the next Corolla as a front-wheel-drive car. With the model change, the lineup became "two-track," with the sedan front-wheel drive and the Levin and Trueno rear-wheel drive, and the Trueno set itself apart from the Levin with retractable headlights. The fifth-generation front-wheel-drive Corolla was epoch-making, but some aspects, such as reconciling it with cost, remained unresolved. Honda finds it interesting that amid all this, the 86 Levin/Trueno, which carried on rear-wheel drive, was highly praised, and says it is fascinating to see the difference between a sedan built universally for a broad range of people and a specialty car built for a limited number of car enthusiasts.
Connections
Fumio Agetsuma
- Subordinate
Honda moved to Corolla product planning as a staff member attached to chief engineer Agetsuma, and some time after the fourth-generation Corolla came out, Agetsuma told him to "work on development dedicated to FF" so that the next Corolla would be front-wheel drive.
- Advisee
Okudaira, who worked on the design of functional parts after joining the company, received a great deal of guidance from Agetsuma, who served as chief engineer of the fourth-generation Corolla.
Profile
Development lead (CE) for the fourth- and fifth-generation Corolla.
Translated from Japanese sources.
Toyota engineers
- Hiroshi OsawaHilux
- Kazuhiko ShindoCrown
- Akihiko SaitoCelica / Corolla
- Akio YoshidaMR2
- Minoru OyaHilux
- Kenichi ImaizumiCrown
- Toshihiro OkadaSoarer
- Shigeo AsaiHilux