ISF-I: Did you develop any other sporty cars for the Toyota Company in the past?

YY: There have been other then sporty cars, but I also did the last generation Toyota Supra. After that I was doing Brand Strategy for both Toyota as Lexus. I was one of the persons who suggested to split the two makes.

ISF-I: You said you have been working on the last Supra. The Supra already was a very sporty car. Why then the Lexus IS-F? Wasn't the Supra sporty enough?

YY: I developed a very interesting car - the Toyota Chaser. It was a sedan with the engine and the suspension of Toyota's Supra.

ISF-I: When was that?

YY: About 2000. It was long before starting the IS-F project. I wanted to develop a sports sedan. I love sportscars, but a sedan is my favourite.

ISF-I: How long did it take to develop a car from that first prototype?

YY: Three years.

ISF-I: That seems quite a long time.

YY: It took time. I wanted to make something of which you can see its high performance, but not too flagrant. Not too macho, but athletic with a muscular body.

ISF-I: Did you have a strict briefing from Lexus Design about how much you could change of the standard IS?

YY: It was not Lexus Design, but Techno Art Research we cooperated with. They totaly understood the concept, but from within Lexus there were some hesitations. I nevertheless insisted on the idea we had developed with Techno Art Research. I could do that because I was doing something completely new.