Background
Nakamura was born in October 1950 in Osaka, Japan.
Nakamura was born in October 1950 in Osaka, Japan.
Nakamura holds a Bachelor of Arts in industrial design from the Musashino Art University in Tokyo, Japan, along with a Bachelor of Science with distinction in Transportation Design from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
Nakamura serves as Senior Vice President of Nissan Motor Company Limited. Since 2006, Nakamura has been Nissan"s Chief Creative Officer. Known as a hands-on creative, he goes by the nickname "Fingers".
When Carlos Ghosn took charge of Nissan in 1999, he brought in Nakamura from Isuzu to lead the design part pf Nissan"s revival.
According to the Forum for Corporate Communications in Tokyo, Nakamura "immediately exerted leadership in driving the design team to create distinctive and innovative designs based on Japanese traditional aesthetics and contemporary culture." Iconic cars, such as the Nissan Cube, Fairlady Z, GT-R, Murano, Juke and LEAF as well as Infiniti M, Forex and Essence were created under Nakamura"s guidance. At Isuzu, Nakamura held various senior level positions, and was responsible for the design of models such as VehiCROSS and Gemini.
In 1985, Nakamura joined General Motors and worked at the Advanced Design Studio in Michigan. In 2003, he was introduced into the Automotive News All Stars, Design.
Nakamura was named by FastCompany Magazine the world"s 4th most creative person of 2010, behind Lady Gaga, Eddy Cue, and Elizabeth Warren.
He was the only car designer on that list. Nakamura plays the cello.
He is Chief Creative Officer of Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun.
