Toyota’s Chief Designer Moves to Yamaha

Akihiro Nagaya, the head of Toyota brand design, has been appointed design general manager at Yamaha Motor Co. His new assignment began on July 1.

Nagaya developed the aggressive L-Finesse style language of current Lexus vehicles. As chief designer for Toyota, he has been working to inject more pizzazz into the brand's staid mainstream models.

Tokyo-based GK Design Group has for years penned most of Yamaha's cars and motorcycles. Nagaya's role will be to establish a stronger in-house design capability for the company. Toyota and Yamaha hold small equity stakes in each other and have collaborated on several specialty car programs.