Hiroaki Ishiura

A racer sat in on the meeting that decides production

Ishiura went beyond being an evaluation and development driver: midway through development he also attended the meeting that decides whether a car goes into production, and gave his frank opinions. According to Ishiura, before the GR Yaris his job was to drive a car that was already largely finished and convey its appeal and character. With the GR Yaris and GR Corolla, he joined at the planning stage, before the first prototype was built, and the work changed to building the car together to make it appealing.