The Father of the Corolla

Chief Engineer for the Original Corolla
Tatsuo Hasegawa

[Profile]
Tatsuo Hasegawa was born February 1916 in Tottori City. After graduating from Tokyo University's Department of Aeronautics in 1939, Hasegawa joined the company Tachikawa Aircraft.
After World War II, in 1946, Hasegawa joined Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. As a Chief Engineer, he oversaw the development of the Publica, the Toyota Sports 800, the Corolla and the Celica.
Following this, Hasegawa went from being the Deputy General Manager of the Product Planning Division to being the General Manager of the division, where he oversaw general development of Toyota vehicles. In 1982, he retired from Toyota as a Senior Managing Director. In 2004, he was inducted into the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame.