 After commencement of U.S. sales of the XE10 in 2000, development begun on its successor, the XE20 under chief engineer Suguya Fukusato in 2001.Design work was done under Kengo Matsumoto for a period of 2 years from 2002 into late 2003 when the final conceptual design by Hiroyuki Tada, utilizing the new corporate styling theme of L-finesse was chosen.From 2003 into the first half of 2004, the conceptual design was further refined into the production design specifications, being then approved by the executive board.