Meet the 26-Year-Old Design Prodigy Behind Honda’s New Roadster

Honda Motor Co. will soon learn whether giving a designer with no engineering experience five years to develop a sports car is pure genius or plain madness.

Ryo Mukumoto was 22 and into his third year making mock-ups at Honda’s research arm when he beat about 400 other entries in an in-house competition. Honda made him the youngest lead engineer in the company’s history and gave him a young team to help translate his ideas into reality. Mukumoto’s vision -- a low-slung roadster inspired by a speeding bullet -- goes on sale next month in the most competitive segment in Japan’s shrinking car market.