“I was very young when Ford closed its plant in Cork, yet I do remember it happening, which is possibly an indication of my interest in cars from early on,” she says. “Then when I was older, I think it was the complexity of the motor industry that attracted me, and by the time I’d finished my PhD, I was well qualified to go into engine development.
“The company put its faith in me and gave me the freedom to deliver. Even though it was outside my area, I got the chance to set up the first engine software team outside Japan. We grew from four to 52 people and were responsible for the engine software in the current Qashqai, X-Trail and Juke. Lyons likes how Nissan encourages innovation and how people are free to propose new ideas or new ways of doing things. “A good example is the Qashqai, which was ground-breaking as it involved combining the bottom of a hatchback and the top of an SUV to create the crossover concept,” she says.