One of the auto industry figures I admire most is a man named Yutaka Katayama. He's no longer with us, having died in 2015 at the age of 105. As a longtime Nissan executive, Katayama's accomplishments were many, including expanding that company into the U.S. market and giving us performance icons like the 510 and Z-car—often by breaking the rules, getting away from the overly conservative business culture back home and understanding what his buyers really wanted.
