Shiro Nakamura became famous as a car designer and as a business leader. This Japanese-born man served as vice president of creative design at Nissan Motor Co. He was the creative director for Nissan, Datsun, Infinity cars until his retirement in 2017.
Born in October 1950 in Osaka, Japan. He graduated with distinction from Musashino Art University in Japan and the Art Center College of Design in California. He studied transportational design and industrial design at both universities.
Carlos Ghosn took the helm of Nissan in 1999. He brought Nakamura over from Isuzu to lead the design part of Nissan’s reborn, where he immediately took the leading role in managing of the design team. Here he combined traditional Japanese characteristics with contemporary culture to create distinctive and innovative designs. Iconic cars such as the Nissan Cube, Fairlady Z, GT-R, Murano, Qashqai, Juke and LEAF, as well as the Infiniti M, FX and Essence, were all created under Nakamura’s guidance.
Nakamura has received numerous honours and awards for his work, including the 2010 EyesOn Design Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2003, he was awarded from the Automotive News All Stars, Design. Nakamura was named the 4th most creative person in the world by FastCompany Magazine in 2010. He was the only car designer on this list. In 2014, Nakamura received the Art Center’s Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award. In 2015, he was the winner of the Grand Prix du Design at the Paris International Motor Show.
Nakamura believed that a lot of knowledge could be useful, taken from old cars and create something authentic.