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Shinjiro Yukawa

Shinjiro Yukawa

NissanDevelopment lead

Development lead who, as Carlos Ghosn's right-hand man, revived the Fairlady Z, once slated to end production in 2000, with the fifth generation (Z33) in 2002

Timeline

  1. 1976

    Joined

  2. 2002
    Fairlady Z 5th generation (Z33)
    Fairlady Z 5th generation (Z33)

    2002–2008Development lead

    Not done once it's launched

    Yukawa believed the Z must not be "built, launched and done," but must keep shining as a symbol of Nissan's revival. The global standard is for sports cars to keep evolving, but the company had no mechanism for finding the budget and engineering hours to do it. So, adopting an MY (model year) system of small annual changes, he built a business model that could succeed as a result. Getting this approach accepted within the company took tremendous stamina and patience.

  3. 2008
    Fairlady Z 6th generation (Z34)
    Fairlady Z 6th generation (Z34)

    2008–2021Development lead

  4. 2009

    LeftNissan

Connections

    Shinjiro Yukawa

    Shinjiro Yukawa

    Profile

    Head of development of the then-new Fairlady Z (Z33).

    Translated from Japanese sources.

    Nissan engineers

    All Nissan engineers