In this July 9, 2002 file photo, Yutaka Katayama, a former president of Nissan Motor Co.s U.S. unit, speaks during an interview at his office in Tokyo.Tsugufumi Matsumoto/The Associated Press
Yutaka Katayama, a former president of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s U.S. unit, who built the Z sports car into a powerful global brand in the 1970s, has died, his son said. He was 105.
Known as the "father of the Z," Mr. Katayama won international respect for the Datsun Z as an affordable sports car at a time when Japan-made products were synonymous with slipshod quality.
Mr. Katayama, who retired from Nissan in 1977, died on Feb. 19 of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital, his son Mitsuo said.
Carlos Ghosn, who has led a turnaround at the Japanese auto maker under an alliance with Renault SA of France, resurrected Mr. Katayama's legendary status at Nissan by bringing back the Z, which had been discontinued in 1996.
Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in both the United States and Japan, Mr. Katayama is revered by Z fan clubs around the world, which nicknamed him "Mr. K."
Mr. Katayama was born Yutaka Asoh in the Shizuoka prefecture, on Japan's south coast, on Sept. 15, 1909. (On his marriage in the 1930s to Masako Katayama, whose family had no sons, he took her surname.) In 1935, after graduating from Keio University, he joined Nissan, working in its advertising and publicity departments.
Mr. Katayama's maverick approach to business often antagonized his superiors. In 1960, seeking to punish him, they transferred him to Southern California.
Placed in charge of Nissan's Western U.S. operations, Mr. Katayama had the onus of building the Datsun brand there.
"With a love of cars and a flare for promotion, he built the Datsun brand, Nissan's initial brand name in the U.S., from scratch," Yokohama-based Nissan said on its website last year.
Mr. Katayama leaves his wife, Masako; two sons and two daughters; 11 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren.
With files from New York Times News Service