is a Japanese automotive engineer who was responsible for the development of the ninth generation

Nissan Skyline (R33) The is a brand of automobile originally produced by the Prince Motor Company starting in 1957, and then by Nissan after the two companies merged in 1967. After the merger, the Skyline and its larger counterpart, the Nissan Gloria, were sold i ...

and the tenth generation Nissan Skyline (R34).

History

Early days

As a boy, he was a car enthusiast who loved motor sports. He saw the

Prince A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...

cars being completely defeated at the 1st Japanese Grand Prix held at

Suzuka Circuit The , more famously known as the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000. Introduction Soich ...

in 1963. In March 1967, one month before he joined Nissan, he went to Europe to watch a

Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

race.SEIBIDO MOOK "Japan's Memorable Car - Skyline GT-R, from PGC10 to R33" July 10, 1997, SEIBIDO SHUPPAN CO., LTD. (Japanese) He wanted to join

Brabham Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won fo ...

or another F1 car manufacturer. In Japan, he wanted to join the

Prince Motor Company The Prince Motor Company ( Japanese: ) was an automobile marque from Japan which eventually merged into Nissan in 1966. It began as the Tachikawa Aircraft Company, a manufacturer of various airplanes for the Japanese Army in World War II, e.g ...

which produced the R380 racing car.

Joined Nissan

He joined Nissan in April 1967 and was assigned to the Prince Division, which had recently been merged into Nissan in August 1966, located in

Ogikubo, Tokyo is a suburban, residential area of Tokyo in Suginami ward, approximately 8 km west of Shinjuku. Ogikubo has the Ogikubo Station on the JR Chūō Line (Rapid), the JR Chūō-Sōbu Line, the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (terminus) and the ...

, as he hoped.The Designer's Emotion Over the Skyline - Kozo Watanabe Interview
Nissan Official Website (Japanese) The main building was the former

Nakajima Aircraft Company The was a prominent Japanese aircraft manufacturer and aviation engine manufacturer throughout World War II. It continues as the car and aircraft manufacturer Subaru. History The Nakajima Aircraft company was Japan's first aircraft manufac ...

's Tokyo Plant facility. He was assigned to Design Group No. 2 of the Design Department No. 1 headed by two managers. One of them was

Shinichiro Sakurai was a Japanese engineer inducted into the Japan Automotive Hall of FameTh ...

, the other was Ushio Fuyuki.『「プリンス」荻窪の思い出 II』荻友会編私家版 1997年11月16日 "Prince - Memories of Ogikubo" Private press by Tekiyukai (former Prince engineers)Association, Nov. 16, 1997 (Japanese) One of Sakurai's subordinates Naganori Itō held direct responsibility over Watanabe. Itō who would later take over Sakurai's responsibilities.Sakura Mook 21 "The Legend of the Mighty Skyline GT-R" July 10, 1997, KASAKURA PUBLISHING Co., Ltd. (Japanese) Itō instructed Watanabe and allowed him to design some parts of C10 Skyline GT-R's suspension. One day, Watanabe said to Sakurai that he would like to design a racing car.
Sakurai said, "Come on. No way. You must learn about the

production car Production vehicles or production cars are mass-produced identical models, offered for sale to the public, and able to be legally driven on public roads ( street legal). Legislation and other rules further define the production vehicle within part ...

s first. It's impossible for you to design a racing car now." But gradually, Itō allowed him to design some parts of the suspension of the racing cars such as R381 and R382.

Collision safety (Experimental Safety Vehicle Division)

In 1970, he was assigned to the ESV (

Experimental Safety Vehicle Experimental Safety Vehicle (ESV) is the designation for experimental concept cars which are used to test car safety ideas. In 1973, the U.S. DOT announced its ESV project, the aim of which was to obtain safer vehicles by 1981. A car produced by t ...

) Division in Tsurumi,

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of ...

to research collision safety.

Return to Ogikubo

In 1973, he was once again assigned to the Chassis Department in

Ogikubo is a suburban, residential area of Tokyo in Suginami ward, approximately 8 km west of Shinjuku. Ogikubo has the Ogikubo Station on the JR Chūō Line (Rapid), the JR Chūō-Sōbu Line, the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line (terminus) and the Tok ...

, a department to which Itō had been promoted to manager. As a result of many engineers being assigned to the

vehicle emissions control Vehicle emissions control is the study of reducing the emissions produced by motor vehicles, especially internal combustion engines. Types of emissions Emissions of many air pollutants have been shown to have variety of negative effects on publi ...

project, Itō and Watanabe were one of few people who designed or improved the chassis of the former

vehicles such as the later version of Skyline C110,

Pulsar A pulsar (from ''pulsating radio source'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its magnetic poles. This radiation can be observed only when a beam of emission is pointing toward E ...

and Nissan Prince Homer truck. (On the other hand, genuine Nissan vehicles were designed at Nissan Tsurumi Design Center in

.) One thing he can never forget during his Ogikubo days is that he had a chance to repair the

Nissan Prince Royal The Nissan Prince Royal is a large Japanese limousine made for the Imperial Household of Japan. History The Japanese auto industry was expanding rapidly in the early 1960s, and the Imperial Household Agency sought a Japanese auto manufacturer ...

limousine. After he repaired it and sent it back to the

Imperial Household Agency The (IHA) is an agency of the government of Japan in charge of state matters concerning the Imperial Family, and also the keeping of the Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century AD, up until the Second World War, it ...

, he was presented a pack of Imperial Gift Cigarettes with the

Chrysanthemum Seal The Imperial Seal of Japan or National Seal of Japan, also called the , or , is one of the national seals and a crest ('' mon'') used by the Emperor of Japan and members of the Imperial Family. It is a contrast to the Paulownia Seal used by the ...

printed on them.

Assigned to plan the strategies

In 1985, he was assigned to the Strategy Department of Nissan headquarters.
At this time, he wrote the "screen play" for each of the Nissan cars. For example, the character and image of the cars. He also discussed which cars should be exported and which cars should be sold domestically.

Assigned as the Chief Experiment Engineer of R32

In 1985, he was assigned to the Vehicle Experiment Department. He tested N13 Pulsar, and its variants Exa, Langley and Liberta Villa. In 1987, he was sent to Nissan Tochigi Plant in

Kaminokawa, Tochigi is a town located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 31,243 in 12,061 households, and a population density of 570 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Kaminokawa is located in the sout ...

to test the R32 Skyline under the command of Itō, the chief engineer. He tested the R32 carefully and with insistence. He collected the data and provided them to Itō. He brought an R32 to the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around the village a ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

with his test team. The event marked the completion of the R32, paving the way to its début.

Chief engineer of R33

Just after the R33 Skyline project started, he was assigned as the chief engineer of R33. Nissan headquarters told him to make the R33 wider and longer than the R32 to improve passenger comfort. Consequently, the R33 would be heavier than the R32, but Watanabe was aiming to produce a faster car having declared that " R33 GT-R has to be faster than R32 GT-R". In particular, he carefully designed the suspension. When the a BCNR33 GT-R was taken to the Nürburgring to be tested, the lap time finally became twenty one seconds shorter than that of BCNR32 GT-R. Consequently, the slogan "Minus 21 Seconds Romanticism" was used for the television advertisements.

R34 - the last straight-6 Skyline

He was again assigned as the chief engineer of the next (tenth) generation R34 Skyline. One of their long-time concerns was weight distribution. Watanabe once tried to abandon the heavy RB engine and tried to use a lighter

V6 engine A V6 engine is a six- cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V6 engines were designed and produced independently by Marmon Motor Car Company, Deutz Gasmotoren Fa ...

. However, it was cancelled, because it would cost too much to change the layout of the vehicle. So, he continued to use a

straight-six engine The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bal ...

. Although in late 1990s and early 2000s, the

GT car GT, Gt or G-T may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games * GT Interactive, an American video game developer * GameTrailers, a video game website * '' Golden Tee Golf'', golf video game * ''Gran Turismo'' (series), a series of racing video games ...

and the

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

were not popular in Japan, Watanabe and his team completed the R34 as the ultimate Skyline. Furthermore, the BNR34 GT-R is the last "Skyline GT-R" so far. (Nissan separated the GT-R from the Skyline line-up.)

Recent years

In 1999, he was promoted to the Executive Director of

NISMO , abbreviated as Nismo, is a division of Nissan Motorsports & Customizing focused in motorsport and performance-oriented car models for Nissan. Nismo was initially a company, , formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departme ...

and supervised the entire Nissan motor sports project. Whenever NISMO sold the Z-tune R34 Skylines to the customers at the NISMO headquarters, Watanabe was present to congratulate the new owners.Z-tune Information - NISMO official website (Japanese)
/ref> He retired from NISMO in 2006. He is currently the advisor of the Prince & Skyline Museum in

Okaya, Nagano is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 48,616 in 19,257 households, and a population density of 570 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Okaya is located in central Nag ...

. He often appears at the Skyline festivals or the Skyline talk shows with Itō.Prince & Skyline Museum Official Website
(Japanese) Incidentally, the fifth generation C210 Skyline is the only Skyline which he was not involved in until he being assigned as the Executive Director of NISMO in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Kozo 1942 births Living people Japanese automotive engineers Nissan people People from Osaka Prefecture University of Tokyo alumni