[Obit] "Father of the Z" dies at age 105

[Your Name]

From the New Zealand Herald newspaper ...


Tributes flow as father of Nissan Z dies at 105
-----------------------------------------------
Yutaka Katayama, a former president of Nissan Motor's US
unit who built the Z sports car into a powerful global
brand in the 1970s, has died. He was 105.

Known as the "father of the Z", Katayama won international
respect for the Datsun Z as an affordable sports car at a
time when Japan-made products were synonymous with
slipshod quality.

Katayama, who retired from Nissan in 1977, died of heart
failure at a Tokyo hospital, his son Mitsuo said.

Carlos Ghosn, who has led a turnaround at the Japanense
carmaker under an alliance with Renault, resurrected
Katayama's legendary status at Nissan by bringing back
the Z, which had been discontinued in 1996.

Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in the US and
Japan, Katayama is revered by Z fan clubs around the
world, which nicknamed him "Mr K".

"A car is a horse. I want to drive a thoroughbred that's
in tune with my heartbeat, but not something that's too
dressed up for someone like me," Katayama said. "He had
a vivacious personality, unusual for a Japanese person
of his generation.

He made one of the first colour films of a Datsun,
innovating visual story telling for marketing, something
taken for granted in the motor industry today.

"With a love of cars and a flare for promotion, he built
the Datsun brand, Nissan's initial brand name in the US,
from scratch," Nissan said.

Mitsuo Katayama said his father was zooming around in
the Z in heaven, no longer worried about "gas, police,
or traffic tickets".




Retired in 1977, so he wasn't responsible for the fat-ass 300ZX or
stupidly cancelling the near-perfect 200sx.

[Peter Hill]

On 26/02/2015 00:35, Your Name wrote:
>
> From the New Zealand Herald newspaper ...
>
>
> Tributes flow as father of Nissan Z dies at 105
> -----------------------------------------------
> Yutaka Katayama, a former president of Nissan Motor's US
> unit who built the Z sports car into a powerful global
> brand in the 1970s, has died. He was 105.
>

<snip>

>
> Retired in 1977, so he wasn't responsible for the fat-ass 300ZX or
> stupidly cancelling the near-perfect 200sx.

"near perfect" Depends on which 200SX you are talking about.

[Your Name]

In article <mcokq0$rp1$1...@speranza.aioe.org>, Peter Hill

Admittedly there were a couple of models in the middle years that
looked pig-ugly (and the last model had a silly dial on the driver's
window pillar!), but the 200sx is a proper, near-perfect, low-priced
sportscar - it's basics have been copied by the reportedly very popular
Toyota 86 / Subaru BRZ. The early hatchback models was in the top 10
(from memory) lowest air resistance drag numbers.

I'll never understand why Nissan kept trying to change the 200sx, while
the 180sx remained largely the same and even carried on production (in
Japan) for a couple of years after the 200sx was dropped.

Nissan need to bring back a proper 2+2 sports coupe using the 200sx
label.