NSX design

Indeed, Ken Okuyama, who was brought over from Pininfarina to design the NSX in-house for Honda, also designed the Ferrari Enzo!

 

Wow... hard to believe they were both designed by him.

The Enzo is a real Tour de Force... the NSX is just another bland coupe, designwise.

 

The most legendary designers showed incredible range, Marcello Gandini designed the Countach, and he also designed the Renault 5 Turbo, for example.

That said, I can easily see how the NSX and the Enzo were designed by the same man, especially if you put it into the proper context of the era in which the NSX was designed. The NSX's F16 inspired fighter jet canopy, long rear end & unmistakeable taillights were probably the most distinctive / futuristic / risk-taking design features when it was launched compared to something like its Ferrari 348 or Porsche 911 competitors. The Enzo's overall design was similarly avantegarde when it was launched.

 

with all due respect, are you certain about this statement?
I've never heard of any of Ken's involvement with a Honda NSX design
introduced in 1990, Ken was at GM at the time if i'm not mistaken, but maybe you've heard a different story

 

if that's not true, he certainly seems to get a lot of credit for it.

 

i've known Ken since his GM days, and I guess I just never heard of this
but I guess it could be
while it's sometimes hard to trust Wikipedia, here's what they say about the NSX:

The NSX was designed by a team led by Chief Designer, Masahito Nakano, and Executive Chief Engineer, Shigeru Uehara. It benefitted of advanced aerodynamics and styling inspired by a F-16 fighter jet cockpit[3] and input from the late Formula One World Champion, Ayrton Senna, during the final development stages.

Maybe Ken had some involvement I just wasn't aware of.

No mention in Car Styling...
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I've seen numerous references to Ken having designed the NSX, in credible sources. this is interesting.

 

Ken is widely credited with designing the exterior of the NSX.

After the Art Center College of Design in California, in the late 80s he was a visiting professor at Tohoku University of Art and Design, and in 1991, he returned to teach part-time at the Art Center College of Design in California. His stint at GM apparently came after that.

The Revs Institute is a credible source I think: The Revs Institute | Acura NSX and I draw attention to this:

"Ken Okuyama designed the exterior of the NSX for Pininfarina, just as he would the Ferrari Enzo".

There are many other sources that corroborate this.

 

OK I stand corrected. Learn something new everyday.

 

No worries.

I did some more checking and in Nov 2012 Ken was interviewed in a piece based on his own testimony that says:

"Ken Okuyama’s first foray into professional car production was as Chief Designer for the Honda NSX. Ken extensively researched the F-16 fighter jet and incorporated elements of it into the NSX. It’s low height, aerodynamic body lines, and forward cockpit brought rave reviews from car enthusiasts, but it was more than just a pretty face. It also incorporated the latest technologies from Honda’s F1 motor-sports program such as all-aluminum construction and electric power steering. Even today, the NSX is considered one of the most reliable exotic cars ever built."

Another piece on Ken establishes the timeline with GM:

"After graduating from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California with a degree in automobile design, he worked as a visiting professor at Tohoku University of Art and Design and as chief designer for Honda’s NSX project. Thereafter he returned to teach at his university, the Art Center College of Design. Okuyama was also chief designer for General Motors and Porsche and received, in 2004, the offer take on the position of design director at Pininfarina, Italy. Among other creations, he designed the Enzo Ferrari, the Maserati Quattroporte, and the new generation of the Porsche 911."

I'm learning too, and now I think this NSX is even more impressive!

 

NSX, Boxster, 996, Enzo, P4/5.

solid resume.

 

Never in question

 

I really think the piece in the revs institute meant to say:

"Okuyama designed the exterior of the NSX, just as he would the Ferrari Enzo for Pininfarina"

Editors.

Or lack thereof.

 

Thanks! The car is sweet, indeed.

As regards KO, I find it rather unbelievable that all the many sources that report KO's involvement are erroneous reporting. There is no smoke without fire. I agree we are all learning about these things and we got it wrong in the beginning stating that KO was "brought over from Pininfarina", when in fact he was already in Japan circa 1990 when he designed the NSX, or was part of the team who designed the NSX, whichever one prefers.

A little more research suggests that Ken Okuyama worked on the design team under Executive Chief Engineer Shigeru Uehara. This too is stated in many sources, all of which can't be wrong.

Why is he not mentioned by Honda? In researching the histories of Ferrari and Lamborghini for the books I published, I learned that the reporting of who did what in car companies is not an exact science! Also, there are sometimes political or personal reasons certain people are left out of being mentioned...

As regards KO being so young, the NSX would not be the first iconic sports car designed by a young design graduate. Think Marcello Gandini & the Miura!

The received wisdom from many sources (which makes sense) is that after graduating from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California with a degree in automobile design, he worked as a visiting professor at Tohoku University of Art and Design and was drafted a designer for the NSX project.

In 2012 Ken was apparently interviewed for a November 8th 2012 published piece by Mash Bonigala, based on what is obviously KO's own testimony, and which says:

"Ken Okuyama’s first foray into professional car production was as Chief Designer for the Honda NSX. Ken extensively researched the F-16 fighter jet and incorporated elements of it into the NSX".

Hard to fathom Mash also made the piece up or simply copied & pasted.

I think we may have to agree to disagree on this one, not that it really matters too much.

That said, the car that is the thread's topic is awesome, and there is absolutely no disputing that!
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Okayama's own website doesn't give him any credit for the NSX, or even having worked at/for Honda. Although apparently he designed the Maserati Quattroporte.

?????????? | KEN OKUYAMA DESIGN

Wiki has no mention of Ken as part of the design team: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_NSX_(first_generation)

yet google does


usually this kind of mystery is reserved for obscure vintage cars from Italy!
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Honda, Japan article on the NSX.

Honda Worldwide | History | The NSX / 1990

 

My friend in High School did the Boxster.
Grant Larson.


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF1n4tyedoU[/ame]

 

Interesting but no need for insults, no ?

Honestly I have always heard that Ken Okuyama was the lead designer.
Didn't know who he was prior to that and Masahito Nakano would have been just as well.

 

interesting.

this article claims otherwise: Car designer Ken Okuyama warns about Google, Apple - Business Insider

or maybe Ken was on a lot of design teams/on the payroll and is taking a loose view towards credit?

 

Reporters / media stories are one thing, but the internationally renowned Red Dot award for design lists Ken Okuyama as the chief designer for the NSX here: Red Dot Design Award: Ken Okuyama Presumably an organization as serious as this one would do enough checking to get their facts straight.

However, it is also important to remember that at the end of the day, this is a product from a company that is orders of magnitude larger than the typical supercar manufacturer. The boardroom meetings for design on a Honda product likely have tens of people in attendance with even more employees having some small input in the project, and it's easy to conceive a situation in which multiple individuals, at different periods of the design process or even concurrently, had the title "chief designer" or something similar which may have then been misconstrued when translated from Japanese. Most people think of Shigeru Uehara as the "lead designer" for the NSX, which in a way is true (he led the project, primarily as an engineer), but in other ways is completely untrue (Uehara is not a "designer" in the sense of putting pen to paper and drawing a car). I think the moral of the story is that this is not the type of car where one designer is likely to have been responsible for the entire finished product, and if Ken Okuyama's name pops up as much as it does with this car, I would place my bets he was involved in a significant way.