Pebble Beach Fireside Chat

Transcript

00:00 Good afternoon everybody and welcome to the second annual Japanese Automotive Invitational

00:10 presented by Infiniti.

00:12 In this discussion we're going to talk about how Japan became an automotive superpower.

00:17 So joining me today to help discuss this are my esteemed group of panelists, starting with

00:23 Alfonso Albaisa, who's Senior Vice President of Global Design for Nissan, Mike Mallamott,

00:27 and Mike has a very eclectic collection but Japanese cars are a big part of it.

00:31 RJ DeVira, he's a JDM tuner, tastemaker, and finally there's John Lam, spent an awful lot

00:37 of his career at Road & Track magazine, prior to that though, did work for Motor Trend,

00:42 so gentlemen, welcome and thank you for being here.

00:44 So I'd like to kick things off with some questions.

00:47 What was the car, or the cars, that put Japan on the world map, in your opinion?

00:53 It's hard to argue that the 240 wasn't the one that, at least for us, it brought sports

00:57 car to everyone.

00:59 For me in some respects, the one that really kind of set the tone was the original Honda

01:03 Accord.

01:04 I just bought a '79 Accord hatchback 5-speed AC.

01:09 I just remember selling these cars and how fantastic they were, driving them, the experience,

01:16 the smell, that car put a smile on my face, what a wonderful car.

01:21 One legacy is on the racetrack, absolutely, but the other one is the fact that they finally

01:24 gave us cars that you could buy, you could depend on.

01:28 Ferrari can make a beautiful car, they can make a car that goes quickly and handles nice,

01:32 but they can't make a cigarette lighter.

01:34 GM was another great example.

01:35 They could not make a car that everything worked all the time.

01:39 There's a Japanese expression, "Omotenashi" means a kind of hospitality, so I think that's

01:44 in the DNA of the country, and thus in the DNA of our engineers.

01:48 Yeah, I think a lot of it is in this engineering where they engineered everything to be so

01:54 efficient.

01:55 The Japanese engineers are driving freaks, actually.

01:59 The head of Infinity Engineering, his GT-R is insane.

02:04 The current of their blood is to drive.

02:06 The success of the Japanese cars is really based on the Japanese people themselves, and

02:12 so they were the first to open studios in California.

02:15 And why did they do that?

02:16 To learn about the people who they want to sell cars to.

02:20 And I think this is directly linked to the success that I'm sure is guaranteed for the

02:26 future.

02:27 [music]