At 70, retired Nissan legend Shiro Nakamura isn't done

TOKYO — Shiro Nakamura — the influential Nissan designer once dubbed the crossover king — couldn't have picked a better time to retire from the automaker in 2017.

It wrapped up a four-decade career of penning cars, capped by nearly 18 years leading design at Japan's No. 2 automaker. And one year later, Nissan's then-Chairman Carlos Ghosn — the man who poached Nakamura from Isuzu and gave him broad freedom at Nissan — was arrested, plunging the automaker into turmoil.

Nakamura has laid low since then, but the jazz-loving, mustachioed styling maestro is back in the game — at the age of 70. Still as spritely and energetic as ever, Nakamura is now leading two new design studios — one in Southern California, the other in a trendy Tokyo neighborhood.

He is busy with projects and even casting his creative gaze beyond automotive.

In his first interview since jumping back into the business, Nakamura told Automotive News he took his time in order to distance himself from his "Nissan guy" image and start afresh with new clients.

"I don't have to be Nissan's Nakamura. I want to be more independent as an individual," Nakamura said in a sitdown this month at his new studio in Tokyo's artsy Daikanyama district.

"Once I left, I wanted to be clearly leaving the company," he said. "Sometimes people stay as an adviser or something. But my true nature is as a designer, rather than a businessperson. So I would rather continue to be associated with automotive design than the company."

Nakamura opened the Tokyo studio, called SN Design Platform, in January. It has a staff of four design directors and CAD designers, including veterans from Nissan and Isuzu, with two studio spaces to handle projects.

Across the Pacific, Nakamura also manages Hollywood Hills Creative Platform as a president. It is a three-studio facility, replete with its own swimming pool, on a cliff overlooking downtown Hollywood. Nakamura's partner and majority owner in that venture is Chinese automotive engineering house IAT Automobile Technology Co., which is based in Beijing and does contract work for global manufacturers.

That facility is a collaboration with the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. Its managers are ArtCenter teachers, its designers alumni and its interns students.

Nakamura declined to name his latest clients but says it's a mix of established international brands and startups from Western countries and China — but not Japan. The work spans everything from interior to exterior design, but the projects have one thing in common: 90 percent of the work is for electric vehicles.

None of Nakamura's latest creations has made it to production yet. Most of the studios' handiwork is in upstream design proposals. The first ones should hit the market in two years.

In his earlier days, Nakamura was known for pioneering the crossover segment, first by overseeing the Isuzu VehiCross concept and then a string of car-cum-trucks at Nissan that included the Qashqai, Rogue, Juke and Infiniti FX. But he also was at the helm for other iconic looks, such as the Leaf electric vehicle, with its bulging headlights, and the icebox-shaped Cube.

Going freelance, however, allows him to branch out. Nakamura's stable of stylists is working on an all-electric super sports car, a full-sized heavy truck and an electric motorcycle.

Nakamura even wants to dabble in designing audio speaker systems and wristwatches.

"We even do our own programs without a client," Nakamura said. "You have to explore by yourself. You never know; some company may be interested. I don't want to be restricted."

When he's not dreaming up new ideas, Nakamura still acts as a juror for the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in Italy.

He also tends his own classic car collection, which includes a silver 1967 Ferrari 330 GTC, a red Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider and a yellow Nissan Z 432 — a special run that was equipped with a GT-R engine and limited to 500 units.

As for today's Nissan designs, Nakamura has nothing but praise, especially calling out its recent Z Proto concept and the upcoming Ariya all-electric crossover.

"I'm going to buy the Ariya this year, the four-wheel drive," Nakamura said. "That is just the second completely new EV from Nissan. This is the result of 10 years' development. It's not just design, it's engineering, motor, inverters, HMI. It should be very high quality."

Looking ahead, Nakamura has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

"I feel like I'm 60 right now," he says. "So I want to continue for maybe another 10 years."