Kozo Watanabe (渡邉 衡三, Watanabe Kōzō, born 1942) is a Japanese automotive engineer who was responsible for the development of the ninth generation Nissan Skyline (R33) and the tenth generation Nissan Skyline (R34).

He saw the Prince cars being completely defeated at the 1st Japanese Grand Prix held at Suzuka Circuit in 1963.

In March 1967, one month before he joined Nissan, he went to Europe to watch a Formula 1 race.

In Japan, he wanted to join the Prince Motor Company which produced the R380 racing car.

[2] The main building was the former Nakajima Aircraft Company's Tokyo Plant facility.

[3] One of Sakurai's subordinates Naganori Itō held direct responsibility over Watanabe.

[4] Itō instructed Watanabe and allowed him to design some parts of C10 Skyline GT-R's suspension.

[4] As a result of many engineers being assigned to the vehicle emissions control project, Itō and Watanabe were one of few people who designed or improved the chassis of the former Prince vehicles such as the later version of Skyline C110, Pulsar and Nissan Prince Homer truck.

One thing he can never forget during his Ogikubo days is that he had a chance to repair the Nissan Prince Royal limousine.

Nissan headquarters told him to make the R33 wider and longer than the R32 to improve passenger comfort.

In 1999, he was promoted to the Executive Director of NISMO and supervised the entire Nissan motor sports project.