1988 – The Designers
There were a large team of designers who were involved in the design of the Nissan Figaro.
We are aware of three very special designers who were involved in the design of the car.
Shoji Takahashi
Shoji also designed the Nissan Pao which like the Figaro had a low volume production run of just 10,000. Also like the Figaro, the Nissan Pao was an instant hit. Nissan had to run a lottery to decide who the lucky buyers of the cars would be. It was manufactured between 1989 and 1991.
The Japanese are very good at spotting classic design signatures and incorporating them into their own modern cars.The Figaro is a combination of classic cars like the 60’s Mini, the Renault 4, the Citroen 2CV and the Austin A40.
Naoki Sakai
Naoki is a designer whose revolutionary ideas have made him an industry powerhouse. After designing Nissan’s Be-1, the vehicle that in the late 1980s started the round-and-cute car boom, Sakai came up with concepts for three more popular cars from Nissan — the Pao, Figaro and Rasheen — as well as the SW-1 motorbike for Suzuki and the model for Toyota’s Will concept car.
Naoki helped develop Olympus’ O-Product, the camera that made the aluminium body a world standard and mobile phones
Yoshiro Kobata
Yoshiro who was one of the key designers of the Pike cars and mainly the Figaro. He is the designer of Pike Cars Be-1, Pao and Figaro. He studied industrial design at Kanazawa College of Art. His dream was to have more people use the things he designed. He thought that automobiles, alongside architecture, would change the urban landscape and started working for Nissan Motor Co.
Read more about Yoshiro Kobata.
Related posts:
34 years ago today, the very first Nissan Figaro rolled off the production line – Video
1988 – Nissan Figaro Early Concept Drawings Revealed
1988 – Prototype of Nissan Figaro Created
1989 – Public Launch of the Figaro at the Tokyo Motor Show – Video
1988 – How the Figaro was born
1988 – Original Clay Model of the Nissan Figaro
2018 – Nissan Figaro Designer Naoki Sakai Interview
1991 – Nissan Figaro Official Press Release 14th February
