Hideo Kodama (born 1944) is a Japanese automobile designer.

Early life

He was born in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, the capital city of

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

, and in the

Greater Tokyo Area The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefecture, Gunma, Ibaraki Prefecture, ...

. As a boy, he had often painted pictures of cars. He studied at

Tama Art University or is a private Art school, art university located in Tokyo, Japan. It is known as one of the top art schools in Japan. History The forerunner of Tamabi was Tama Imperial Art School (多摩帝国美術学校, Tama Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō) fou ...

in Tokyo, studying in the Industrial Design department. He graduated in 1966.

Career

General Motors

Seeing little opportunity for automotive designers in his native Japan at the time, he opted instead to join Adam Opel AG at

Rüsselsheim am Main Rüsselsheim am Main (, ) is the largest city in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is one of seven special status cities (implementing several functions that counties normally provide) in Hessen and is located on t ...

in Germany in 1966. This became the

General Motors Europe General Motors Europe (often abbreviated to GM Europe) was the European subsidiary of the American automaker General Motors (GM). The subsidiary was established by GM in 1986 and operated 14 production and assembly facilities in 9 countries, an ...

subsidiary in 1986. The design studio had opened in 1964. He worked in Rüsselsheim with the main designer Erhard Schnell, and George Gallion, the deputy chief designer. By the early 1980s, he was Chief Designer, working with the designer

Chris Bangle Christopher Edward Bangle (born October 14, 1956) is an American automobile designer. Bangle is known best for his work as Chief of Design for BMW Group, where he was responsible for the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce motor cars. Early life Bangle ...

from 1981-85. In 1992, he became Chief Designer for the second generation Corsa, known as the Corsa B. This car was launched in April 1993 in the UK, and four million were sold around the world. Kodama was also responsible for the design of the next generation Corsa, the Corsa C. His design for the Agila was built from 2000; the later models of that vehicle ceased production in 2014. He left General Motors Europe in 2004.

Personal life

He lives in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

in Germany.

Design work

* Opel Junior *

Opel Corsa B The Opel Corsa is a supermini car manufactured and marketed by Opel since 1982 — as well as other brands, namely Vauxhall, Chevrolet, and Holden. At its height of popularity, the Corsa became the best-selling car in the world in 1998, re ...

Opel Corsa C The Opel Corsa is a supermini car manufactured and marketed by Opel since 1982 — as well as other brands, namely Vauxhall, Chevrolet, and Holden. At its height of popularity, the Corsa became the best-selling car in the world in 1998, re ...

* Opel Tigra

Gallery

References

External links

Profile in 2014

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kodama, Hideo 1944 births Living people General Motors designers Opel designers Japanese automobile designers Businesspeople from Mainz Artists from Yokohama Tama Art University alumni