Shigeo Asai
ToyotaDevelopment lead
Development lead involved with the Hilux since frame design for the first generation, whose fifth generation won Truck of the Year in the US
Timeline
- 1963
Joined
Toyota Motor Corporation
- 1976
Product Planning OfficeLead staff engineer, Product Planning Office (Hilux)
- 1984
Chief engineer, Product Planning Office (Hilux)
- 1988
Hilux 5th generation1988–1997Development lead
A car that knows the American heart
As development lead, Asai had decided on two things: that it should be a car people around the world see as knowing the heart (the feelings and beliefs) of their country, and that it should be recognizable as a Hilux at a glance, even from a distance. When the 4WD Hilux was sold in America, people were delighted that it was a car that knew the American heart. Developed with these two principles, the fifth generation was named Truck of the Year in the US.
- 1993
Left
- 1994
Pacific Industrial Co., Ltd.Managing Director
- 1996
Senior Managing Director
Connections
Profile
Development lead for the fifth-generation Hilux. He was involved from the chassis frame design of the first-generation Hilux onward, and on the second generation he was responsible for the design of the entire suspension.
Translated from Japanese sources.
Toyota engineers
- Ichiro SuzukiCelsior
- Kazutoshi ArimaMR2
- Masanao ShiomiEstima
- Tadakiyo WatanabeMark II
- Toshihiro OkadaSoarer
- Kenichi ImaizumiCrown
- Akihiko SaitoCelica / Corolla
- Akio YoshidaMR2