For the truck and bus maker "Nissan Diesel," a separate company from Nissan Motors; please see UD instead.
Nissan Motor Company, Ltd. ( Japanese: 日産自動車株式会社 , Nissan Jidōsha Kabushiki-gaisha ? ) (TYO: 7201), shortened to Nissan , is a multinational automaker headquartered in Japan. It was formerly a core member of the Nissan Group, but has become more independent after its restructuring under Carlos Ghosn (CEO).
It formerly marketed vehicles under the "Datsun" brand name and is one of the largest car manufacturers. As of August 2009, the company's global headquarters are located in Nishi-ku, Yokohama. In 1999, Nissan entered an alliance with Renault S.A. of France, which owns 44.4% of Nissan as of 2008. Nissan is among the top three Asian (also known as the Japanese Big 3 Automakers ) rivals of the "Big Three" in the U.S. Currently it is the third largest Japanese car manufacturer. It also manufactures the Infiniti luxury brand.
The Nissan VQ engines, of V6 configuration, have featured among Ward's 10 Best Engines for 14 straight years, since the award's inception.
The pronunciation of its name is different in different markets. In the U.S., the brand is pronounced /ˈniːsɑːn/ , while in the UK it is /ˈnɪsæn/ . In Japanese, it is .
History
Beginnings of Datsun name from 1914
The new car's name was an acronym of the company's partners' family names:
- Kenjiro D en ( 田 健次郎 , Den Kenjirō ? )
- Rokuro A oyama ( 青山 禄朗 , Aoyama Rokurō ? )
- Meitaro T akeuchi ( 竹内 明太郎 , Takeuchi Meitarō ? ) .
It was renamed to Kwaishinsha Motorcar Co. in 1918, and again to DAT Motorcar Co. in 1925. DAT Motors built trucks in addition to the DAT and Datsun passenger cars. The vast majority of its output were trucks, due to an almost non-existent consumer market for passenger cars at the time. Beginning in 1918, the first DAT trucks were produced for the military market. It was the low demand of the military market in the 1920s that forced DAT to merge in 1926 with Japan's 2nd most successful truck maker, Jitsuyo Motors.
In 1926 the Tokyo-based DAT Motors merged with the Osaka-based Jitsuyo Jidosha Co., Ltd. ( 実用自動車製造株式会社 , Jitsuyō Jidōsha Seizō Kabushiki-Gaisha ? ) a.k.a. Jitsuyo Motors (established 1919, as a Kubota subsidiary) to become DAT Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. ( ダット自動車製造株式会社 , Datto Jidōsha Seizō Kabushiki-Gaisha ? ) in Osaka until 1932.
In 1931, DAT came out with a new smaller car, the first "Datson", meaning "Son of DAT". Later in 1933 after Nissan took control of DAT Motors, the last syllable of Datson was changed to "sun", because "son" also means "loss" (損) in Japanese, hence the name "Datsun" ( ダットサン , Dattosan ? ) .
In 1933, the company name was Nipponized to Jidosha-Seizo Co., Ltd. ( 自動車製造株式会社 , Jidōsha Seizō Kabushiki-Gaisha ? , "Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd.") and was moved to Yokohama.
Nissan name first used in 1930s
In 1928, Yoshisuke Aikawa founded the holding company Nippon Sangyo (Japan Industries or Nippon Industries). "The name 'Nissan' originated during the 1930s as an abbreviation" used on the Tokyo stock market for Nippon Sangyo. This company was the famous Nissan "Zaibatsu" (combine) which included Tobata Casting and Hitachi. At this time Nissan controlled foundries and auto parts businesses, but Aikawa did not enter automobile manufacturing until 1933.
Nissan would eventually grow to include 74 firms, and to be the fourth-largest combine in Japan during World War II.
In 1931, Aikawa purchased controlling(?) shares in DAT Motors, and then in 1933 it merged Tobata Casting' s automobile parts department with DAT Motors. As Tobata Casting was a Nissan company, this was the beginning of Nissan's automobile manufacturing.
Nissan Motors founded in 1934
In 1934, Aikawa "separated the expanded automobile parts division of Tobata Casting and incorporated it as a new subsidiary, which he named Nissan Motor (Nissan)". Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. ( 日産自動車 , Nissan Jidōsha ? ) . The shareholders of the new company however were not enthusiastic about the prospects of the automobile in Japan, so Aikawa bought out all the Tobata Casting shareholders (using capital from Nippon Industries) in June, 1934. At this time Nissan Motors effectively became owned by Nippon Sangyo and Hitachi.
Nissan built trucks, airplanes, and engines for the Japanese military. The company's main plant was moved to China after land there was captured by Japan. The plant made machinery for the Japanese war effort until it was captured by American and Russian forces. For two years (1947 to 1948) the company was briefly called Nissan Heavy Industries Corp .
Nissan's early American connection
DAT had inherited Kubota's chief designer who was an American, William R. Gorham. This, along with Aikawa's vision-inspiring 1908 visit to Detroit was to greatly affect Nissan's future.
Although it had always been Aikawa's intention to use the latest cutting-edge auto making technology from America, it was Gorham that carried out the plan. All the machinery, vehicle designs and engine designs originally came out of the United States. Much of the tooling came from the Graham factory and Nissan had a Graham license under which trucks were made. The machinery was imported into Japan by Mitsubishi on behalf of Nissan, which went into the first Yokohama factory to produce cars.
Relationship with Ford Motor Company
From 1993-2002 Nissan partnered with Ford to market a consumer-friendly minivan: The Mercury Villager and the Nissan Quest. The two minivans were manufactured with all the same parts and were virtually identical aside from several cosmetic differences. In 2002, Ford discontinued the Villager to make room for the future Freestar and Monterey. Nissan brought out a new version of the Quest in 2004, which was designed in house and no longer related to any Ford model.
In 1992, Nissan re-launched its Terrano four-wheel drive, which was visually and mechanically identical to the Ford Maverick. Both cars were built in Spain; although the Maverick was discontinued in 1998 due to disappointing sales, the Terrano was a strong seller and remained in production until 2005 when the Nissan Pathfinder replaced it.
Tie-ups with Austin Motor Company
Like Hino and Isuzu, but unlike Toyota, Nissan partnered with an established European company to gain access to automobile and engine designs. Nissan chose Austin of the United Kingdom, which later became the British Motor Corporation by its merger with Morris et al. Nissan began building Austin 7s in 1930, though the legitimacy of their license at that time is debated.
Later, in 1952 Nissan Motor Company of Japan entered into a well-documented legal agreement with Austin , for Nissan to assemble 2,000 Austins from imported partially assembled sets and sell them in Japan under the Austin trademark. The agreement called for Nissan to make all Austin parts locally within three years, a goal Nissan met. Nissan produced and marketed Austins for seven years. The agreement also gave Nissan rights to use Austin patents, which Nissan used in developing its own engines for its Datsun line of cars. In 1953 British-built Austins were assembled and sold, but by 1955, the Austin A50 -- completely built by Nissan and featuring a slightly larger body with new 1489 cc engine—was on the market in Japan. Nissan produced 20,855 Austins from 1953-1959.
Engine Development: Nissan leveraged the Austin patents to further develop their own modern engine designs past what the Austin's A- and B-family designs offered.
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