Hideki Matsumoto
HondaDevelopment lead
Led development of the tenth-generation Civic under the watchword "OTOKOMAE", aiming for driving pleasure at the top of the C segment
Timeline
- 2017
Civic (10th generation)2017–2021Development lead
OTOKOMAE
The tenth-generation Civic's goal was driving pleasure at the top of the C segment. Behind it were a sense of crisis over the dramatic progress of competitors around the world, and customers saying the Civic had become conservative lately. The development team adopted "OTOKOMAE" as its watchword, and demanded no compromise at all in every decision, at times even of those doing the evaluating.
The six-speed manual the team begged for
At first there was no plan to offer a six-speed manual in the hatchback. The team begged for it because they wanted to drive one. They had long heard from Japanese customers that having only a CVT was boring; they wanted to drive it themselves, but above all they wanted to answer customers' voices.
HondaChief Engineer, Automobile R&D Center
Connections
Profile
Development leader of the tenth-generation Civic series. Chief engineer at the Automobile R&D Center of Honda R&D.
Translated from Japanese sources.
Honda engineers
- Hideki KakinumaCivic
- Kiyonari ShiratoN-BOX
- Ted KlausNSX
- Hisayuki YagiCivic
- Ryo MukumotoS660
- Satoshi MizukamiNSX
- Wataru MiyamotoN-BOX
- Masato NakagawaOdyssey