Yutaka Katayama - Career at Nissan

Career At Nissan

In 1939, during World War II, he was ordered to report to a Nissan plant in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, but managed to obtain a transfer back to Japan in 1941. Near the end of the war in 1945, he refused orders to return to Manchukuo; Katayama later credited his survival of the war to this decision.

He returned to the U.S. in 1960, when Nissan sent him to do market research, after which he returned to Nissan in Japan and persuaded the company to start its own sales company in the United States. In 1968, the Datsun 510 was introduced. It cost $2,000 and carried independent rear suspension on sedans. He persuaded the Nissan corporate office in Japan to export the all new 510 with a larger 1.6 liter motor. This motor allowed the 510 to be viable on American roadways. In 1970, he introduced the Datsun 240Z, which Nissan had originally wanted to be named the Fairlady. However, his radical ideas for operations did not sit well with the executives of Nissan in Japan. Mr. K left America in 1975 and returned to Japan. He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame on October 13, 1998 for his lifetime contributions, among them the Datsun 510 and 240Z. He was inducted into the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame in 2008.

A 1997 advertisement campaign for the then-introduced Nissan Frontier featured actor Dale Ishimoto portraying Katayama with a Jack Russell Terrier, stating "Dogs Love Trucks!" The campaign was further expanded to the entire Nissan line in the United States with the tagline "Enjoy The Ride."