company's financial turnaround. Management and executive roles Subsequently, Yamamoto rose to management cadre and became the company's head of research and development. In 1978, motoring journalist Bob Hall suggested that the company build a cheap two-seater roadster. In 1981, Hall, who now worked as product planner for the company in Southern California, once again pitched his idea to Yamamoto. Later, Yamamoto approved the idea, and the initiative resulted in the successful MX-5 Miata model. On 30 November 1984, Yamamoto became the President of the company (now called Mazda). He recommended the company's board to approve mass production of MX-5 Miata. He expanded Mazda's presence in the United States, starting with the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan, in 1985. In 1987, Yamamoto became the company's Chairman, and served in that capacity until he stepped down in 1992. He died on 20 December 2017 in Kanagawa Prefecture at the age of 95. References 1922 births 2017 deaths Japanese mechanical engineers Japanese business executives Mazda People from Kumamoto Prefecture University of Tokyo alumni 20th-century Japanese businesspeople 20th-century Japanese engineers Imperial Japanese Navy personnel of World War II