is a Japanese

automotive engineer Automotive engineering, along with aerospace engineering and naval architecture, is a branch of vehicle engineering, incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software, and safety engineering as applied to the design, manufact ...

and

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

responsible for the design of the first generation

Lexus IS F The Lexus IS (XE20) is a car produced by the Japanese carmaker Toyota under its luxury division, Lexus. Classified as a compact executive car, it represented the second generation of the Lexus IS. Serving as Lexus's entry-level sedan from 2005 ...

. Born in 1955, he has over 30 years of experience in car design, having worked as head of development and planning for

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

, where he holds the title of chief engineer. His involvement with Lexus and Toyota is likely how the SC 300 received the renowned inline-6 2JZ-GE from the Mark IV Toyota Supra in a naturally aspirated format. Yaguchi previously worked on the development of the

Toyota Chaser The is a mid-size car produced by Toyota. In the beginning, Chasers were four-door sedans and hardtop sedans; a two-door coupé was available only for the first generation. It was introduced on the Toyota Mark II (X30) platform and was only avai ...

and all generations of the

Toyota Supra is a sports car and grand tourer manufactured and developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation beginning in 1978. The name " supra" is a definition from the Latin prefix, meaning "above", "to surpass" or "go beyond". The initial four generations ...

Early life

Yukihiko Yaguchi was raised by the Japanese tradition, which is very traditional and strict. At the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology he studied

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

but did not specialise in a subject. However, long before he studied mechanical engineering it was obvious to him that he would work for the

Japanese automobile industry The automotive industry in Japan is one of the most prominent and largest industries in the world. Japan has been in the top three of the countries with the most cars manufactured since the 1960s, surpassing Germany. The automotive industry ...

. At

TMC TMC may stand for: Companies and brands *Thinking Machines Corporation, a defunct supercomputer company *Toyota Motor Corporation, a Japanese automobile manufacturer *Toshiba Memory Corporation * Trans Mountain Corporation *Transportation Manageme ...

(Toyota Motor Company) he found his first job. Yaguchi joined TMC in 1977.

Career

After he graduated from the university, Yaguchi took part in an entry exam at

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

and started to work with the company. One of his first projects was the design of the

. He worked on the Supra Mark 1, Mark 2, Mark 3 and Mark 4. Yaguchi was involved in the design of a variation of the

Toyota Mark II The is a compact, later mid-size sedan manufactured and marketed in Japan by Toyota between 1968 and 2004. Prior to 1972, the model was marketed as the Toyota Corona Mark II. In most export markets, Toyota marketed the vehicle as the Toyota ...

model called the Chaser, which was intended to be a mix between a luxury car and a very sporty car. The car that resulted had the suspension and the engine of the Supra. This car can now be seen as predecessor of the

While he designed the Supra Yaguchi-san was at the 1980s birth of

as a part the

. He spent a lot of time with the new designs for

cars (especially Lexus LS 400) and became head of general development and planning for

. In the year 2006 he was asked to manage the design for the IS F. The IS F is the sports version of the normal

Lexus IS The is a compact executive car ( D-segment in Europe) sold by Lexus, a luxury division of Toyota, since 1998. The IS was originally sold under the nameplate in Japan from 1998 until 2005 (the word ''Altezza'' is Italian for 'height' or 'high ...

sedan. For the IS F, Yaguchi was inspired by driving in a lot of other cars. In an interview, he said that he loves sports cars, but thinks it's a pity that the most sports cars have 2 seats instead of 4. Exactly that idea was the basis for the IS F.Yaguchi interview

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yaguchi, Yukihiko Japanese automotive engineers Lexus Living people 1955 births