When Tomiko Takeuchi was appointed Mazda’s first-ever female program manager in 2015, she simply could not believe that- after so many years- she had landed her dream job.
“My boss at the time told me about the promotion while on a business trip to Kagoshima, in southern Kyushu. I still remember finding it impossible to take a nap in a Shinkansen bullet train on the way back to Mazda's HQ in Hiroshima. My heart was racing; the importance of the role was very exciting, as well as a little bit daunting.” Takeuchi felt under tremendous pressure given she would soon be entrusted with building such historic vehicle for Mazda. But her boss was resolute that she was the person for the job, and that she had received the promotion because he knew she “would not crack under the pressure in any circumstance”. Tenacity and determination are two characteristics Takeuchi would call on regularly in the following years. And so began Takeuchi’s journey as program manager of the MX-30, the company’s first-ever fully electric production vehicle.
But perhaps she shouldn’t have been surprised after all, as creating firsts at Mazda was nothing new to her. Takeuchi joined the company fresh out of university in Kyushu in 1997, and very quickly made an impact, becoming the company’s test driver in only two years. “This particular experience has allowed me to establish the essential vocabulary to evaluate the cars down to their smallest detail. I put together a detailed, in-depth report in my own words to help the engineers fine-tune the various test vehicles I have worked on into a final production model.”
