Kazuaki Shingo在工程机械和内燃机领域拥有丰富经验，是开发世界上最流行电动车的最佳人选。回忆起自己1996年大学毕业之后加入丰田汽车（Toyota），并在控制系统设计部呆了7年时，这位2016款丰田（第四代）普锐斯（Pruis）的副总工程师笑了起来。后来，Shingo如愿进入产品规划部，并随后调回研发部门，参与第二代普锐斯掀背车和Auris小型车的研发，及普锐斯V计划。在2016款普锐斯的北美媒体发布会上，Shingo在翻译的协助下接受了《汽车工程》的采访。

SAE：当您得知第四代普锐斯被选为公司首款采用丰田新型全球架构（TNGA平台）的车型时，您感到兴奋吗？

Shingo：非常兴奋!新款普锐斯采用了很多丰田的最新技术。对于我们汽车研发人员来说，新平台无疑大大提高了车辆的水准。事实上，我在开始时同时参与了新平台和新车型的工作。我们认为这是一个绝佳的机会，可以真正利用公司的新架构，设计更好的普锐斯，结果也确实是这样。

SAE：全新TNGA平台给研发团队带来了什么挑战？TNGA的优势又是什么？

Shingo：我们面临许多挑战。首先，我们必须从头开始设计绝大部分的组件。其次，我们的团队还必须整合很多来自其他部门和项目对平台的要求，非常非常多！不过，新的全球平台可以带来一种“量产效益”，从而让车辆价格更加亲民。而且，新平台还能在设计改型车时，为工程师提供更多自由。

此外，我们在创造新平台时，遇到了一个接一个的挑战：首先是“雷曼兄弟公司破产”，接着我们又遇到了日本大地震，而且丰田也存在一些质量相关的问题。不仅如此，公司的全球市场也在从发达国家向发展中国家转移。我当时觉得公司面临的危机非常大，甚至都怀疑公司能不能挺过去。因此，公司决定“回归基本”，制造一些经济实惠但质量好的车型。这是公司上下共同做出的决定，我们必须这样做。为了做到这一点，我们推倒了公司内部的“部门墙”，大家开始通力合作。我们知道丰田拥有一样很让日本骄傲的东西：生产超高质量产品的实力，也正是这种精神支持者我们走过困境，不断前行。

SAE：在开发新款普锐斯时，客户对新车型的三个主要期待是什么？

Shingo：首先，普锐斯是丰田“混合动力车”的代表，这点不会改变，因此我们希望继续为客户提供世界上最高水平的燃料经济性；其次，虽然之前普锐斯的燃料经济性表现非常好，但我们也知道车辆对道路噪声的控制、驾乘舒适度，以及操控性都并不强。车主在长途驾驶后可能会比较疲惫，而且车辆的操控性也需要改进。我们希望能“纠正”这些问题，也希望新的普锐斯能够为车主带来驾驶的乐趣；第三，在车辆内饰方面，有人告诉我们，老版普锐斯的内饰总给人一种 “塑料的感觉”。因此，我们根据大家的意见重新设计了内饰，车辆座椅、质地和设计均有很大提升。

SAE：在设计新款普锐斯时，公司是否提出了减重的需求？因为您说新的锂离子电池有助于车辆减重。

Shingo：燃料经济性对我们非常重要，因此减重绝对是我们面临的最大挑战之一。我们最重要的目标之一就是绝不增加车辆的重量，但随着美国的碰撞安全性和燃油经济性法规不断紧缩，我们不得不对车辆进行优化，从而应对更高的碰撞速度。而且，为了提高驾乘舒适性和操控性，我们还决定安装一款双叉型后悬挂系统，从而将车身刚性提高至一个新高度。很显然，这些优化均会增加车辆的重量。为了控制车辆的重量，我们采用了更多的铝质部件和高强度钢。最终，我们成功将新款普锐斯的重量控制在与老版车型处于同一水平。

SAE：车辆的白车身采用全钢结构，发动机盖和掀盖车门均采用了铝制材料。公司在设计新款普锐斯时，有计划大量采用铝制材料吗？

Shingo：是的，我们在推广铝制材料的使用时的确有一些考虑。未来，新款普锐斯的生产将倚赖TNGA平台，这意味着我们在设计时必须考虑这款车在世界各地的生产情况，我们必须支持公司的商业决定。不过，加工铝材在美国和日本很容易获得，但在发展中国家却并不那么容易。

SAE：您在研发第四代普锐斯时取得的最大成就是什么？

Shingo：我最骄傲的是有幸从最开始研发普锐斯的混合动力系统，以及新TNGA平台。这是一个向世界展示丰田实力的机会。

作者：Lindsay Brooke
来源：SAE《汽车工程》杂志
翻译：SAE 中国办公室

Pride in engineering the world’s most popular electrified vehicle

Kazuaki Shingo’s background is in mechanical engineering and internal combustion engines—making him a perfect candidate to develop the world’s most popular electrified car! The Assistant Chief Engineer of the 2016 (fourth generation) Prius chuckles when he tells you that, recalling his seven years spent in control-systems design after joining Toyota as a university graduate in 1996. Shingo-san then got his wish to enter product planning, with subsequent moves back into development of the second-generation Prius hatchback, and the Auris and Prius V programs. He spoke with Automotive Engineering through an interpreter at the 2016 Prius North American media launch.

Were you excited when the fourth-generation Prius was chosen to be the first vehicle developed on TNGA—Toyota’s new global architecture?

Yes! A lot of new Toyota technologies are incorporated into the latest Prius. The new platform raised the bar way up high for us who were developing the car. In fact, in the beginning I was working on both the new platform and the car. We felt this was a great chance for us really capitalize on the new structure to make the car better. And that’s what happened.

What challenges did moving to the all-new TNGA present to your development team, and what benefits did TNGA provide?

There were many challenges. For most of the components we started from scratch. Then it was difficult for team members to integrate the many, many requests for the platform from other departments and projects! But the new global platform created a ‘volume effect’ that make the vehicle prices more affordable. And it gives us more freedom to engineer different variants.

Also, at the time we were creating the new platform, we faced a number of challenges that came one after the other: first the ‘Lehman Bros. shock’ then we had a big earthquake in Japan and also Toyota had some quality-related problems. Not only that, the global market was shifting from the developed countries to the developing countries. I felt the crisis was so significant that our company might not be able to keep afloat. So the company decided to ‘go back to basics’ and create something affordable and with high quality. It was a company-wide decision to focus our efforts on that idea. In order to do that, intra-divisional walls were eliminated. Everybody got together and collaborated. We knew we had something that Japan is very proud of: the ability to manufacture products with very high quality. That spirit enabled us to move forward through the challenges.

In developing the new Prius, what were the 3 main customer desires for the new model?

Prius is Toyota’s ‘hybrid DNA’ so we wanted to maintain the world’s best fuel economy. That was number one. Second, while the previous model’s fuel economy is very good, we also knew that road noise, ride comfort and handling weren’t as good. On a long trip the fatigue level was not so good, and the handling needed improvement. So we wanted to rectify those areas. We wanted the new Prius to be a fun car to drive. And third was the interior aspects—some voices we heard said the old interior was too ‘plasticky.’ So based on those voices we revisited the interior and spent a lot of time on the seats, their texture and design.

Was there an aim to reduce the weight of the new Prius compared with the previous one? You did say the lithium-ion batteries contribute to less weight.

Mass reduction was one of the greatest challenges we had in this development because the fuel economy is very important to us. Making sure the vehicle stays light was one of our most important aims. In addition to that, U.S. collision safety and fuel economy regulations were becoming very stringent; we had to cope with higher collision speeds. Also, to improve ride and handling we decided to install a double-wishbone rear suspension which caused us to raise body rigidity to a higher level. These and other things resulted in an increase in vehicle mass so to compensate we used more aluminum components and high-tensile steel. In the end we achieved a weight level comparable to the older Prius.

The white body is all steel with aluminum hood and liftgate. Was there ever a plan to make Prius aluminum intensive?

Yes, we gave consideration to use of aluminum in more areas. Because this vehicle was going to be produced using the TNGA, that meant it had to be designed for production anywhere in the world. It was a business decision that we had to protect. Also, obtaining aluminum for processing is easy in the U.S. and Japan, but not so easy in developing countries.

What is your greatest achievement on the fourth-gen Prius?

I’m most proud of developing the new hybrid system and also its new platform built from scratch. It’s one way to show the world Toyota’s capability.

Author: Lindsay Brooke
Source: SAE Automotive Engineering Magazine