Love the smell of your new Nissan vehicle? Meet the person responsible for Nissan's global smell standard.
This is Ryunosuke Ino. He's a 'smellmaster' at Nissan, or specifically a technical expert in vehicle interior air quality or yes, an odor engineer. While he recognizes that his job is something that not a lot of people know to exist, he actually is an integral part of your pleasant new car experience.
In the video embedded above, Nissan gives us a closer look at how Nissan tunes its new car smell. The video is in Japanese, but you can toggle the "CC" button so you can read through the subtitles and understand what it's like to be a smellmaster.
Being an odor engine isn't an easy task. Ryunosuke's preparation starts a day before as he needs to avoid eating food with powerful smells such as garlic.
Upon seating and while in the same position as the customer, Ryunosuke checks each and every part of the car. He focuses on the sun visor, glovebox, and every part of the car that opens and closes as they can trap different odors. It's also important to check each component as materials sometimes vary at the front and at the back.
According to Ryunosuke, Nissan has set a high standard when it comes to its new car smell. If ever this standard is not met, he has to find the origin of that odor and check the info from the supplier and analyze the materials. In some cases, the material needs to be changed.
Ryunosuke may set the global smell standard for Nissan but it can still vary per region, depending on their smellmasters and feedback from customers. We've met Peter Karl Eastland before, Nissan Europe's odor engineer.
Before you say that anyone can do Ryunosuke's and Eastland's jobs, know that Nissan has a certification test for smell recognition. It's a cool gig, though, that we have to say.
