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Yoshihiko Kanamori

Yoshihiko Kanamori

ToyotaDevelopment lead

Chief engineer for small vehicles who brought together development of the Vitz and the Passo, updated almost at the same time

Timeline

  1. 1982

    Joined

    Toyota Motor Corporation

  2. 2004

    Toyota Motor Corporation Product Planning Office, Toyota Center 2Chief Engineer (CE)

  3. 2007

    Toyota Motor Corporation Product Planning, Lexus Division

  4. 2010
    Passo 2nd generation
    Passo 2nd generation

    2010–2016Development lead

    Build It the Way Middle-Aged Men Think, and You'll Usually Miss

    Yoshihiko Kanamori led the development of both the Vitz and the Passo, which were improved at almost the same time. Both have many women users, but what they look for is quite different, and he says the Passo is the so-called cute type. The Passo's soft, gentle feel is popular with people in their 40s and 50s too, and pretty pink body colors get chosen. Because women choose a car with the same feeling as choosing clothes, Kanamori laughs that if you build it the way middle-aged men think, you'll usually miss. The Passo, which competes with kei cars, had a hard time when fuel economy was brought up, but with this improvement it could answer that it was no worse. The women-oriented grade "+Hana" was made a soft, soothing type that used many pearl-finish parts, in contrast to the Vitz's chrome.

  5. 2013

    Toyota Motor Corporation Product Planning Division

  6. 2014
    Yaris 3rd generation Vitz
    Yaris 3rd generation Vitz

    2010–2020Development leadfrom Apr. 2014

    Worked with

    Small tanks for 17 colors

    The third-generation Vitz changed to a unisex design and was well received. To suit women's wide-ranging tastes, the Vitz was offered in 17 body colors. A paint plant's tanks are usually around 200 liters, but Toyota Industries, which built the Vitz, had cartridge-type equipment of around 20 liters that could handle colors that did not sell much.

    Chief Engineer, ZP

Connections

Yoshihiko Kanamori

Yoshihiko Kanamori

Profile

ZP chief engineer in the product planning group of Toyota Motor Corporation. He brought together development of both the Vitz and the Passo, which were improved at almost the same time.

Translated from Japanese sources.

Toyota engineers

All Toyota engineers