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Nissan (日産)
is a
Japanese
automobile maker. From
1932 to
1983, they also used the
trademark Datsun.
Nissan used to be Japan's second-largest car company,
after
Toyota, but it has dropped to third in size (IIRC) after
Honda. Due to financial problems througout the
1990s (to the point where most believe an
American company in a similarly bad financial state would have ceased
trading), the
French company
Renault took a large shareholding in the company and installed
Carlos Ghosn as president, the first
non-Japanese person to run a Japanese car company (Mazda
was run by an American,
Mark Fields--now run by
Lewis Booth of
England--and
Mitsubishi is run by a German,
Rolf Eckrodt).
History
In 1914, the Kwaishinsha Motorcar Works
(快進自動車工場),
established three years earlier, in Azabu-Hiroo District in
Tokyo, built the first DAT. The new car's name being the
acronym of the company's partners'
surnames:
- Den Kenjiro (田健
次郎)
- Aoyama Rokuro (青山
禄朗)
- Takeuchi Meitaro (竹内
明太郎).
The Works was renamed to Kwaishinsha
Motorcar Co. in 1918, and again, in 1925, to DAT Motorcar Co.
The next year, the Tokyo-based company merged with the
Osaka-based Jitsuyo Jidosha Co., Ltd. (実用自動車製造株式会社)
(established 1919) as DAT Automobile Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (ダット自動車製造株式会社,
Dat Jidosha Seizo Kabushiki-Kaisha) in Osaka until 1932. In 1931, the first
DATSON -- meaning "Son of DAT" -- was produced. However, the last syllable
was changed to "sun", because "son" also means "loss" (損)
in
Japanese.
In 1933, the company name was Nipponized to Jidosha-Seizo
Co. Ltd. (自動車製造株式会社,
"Automobile Manufacturing Co. Ltd.") and moved to
Yokohama where it still is now. The company became Nissan Motor Co.,
Ltd. (日産自動車,
Nissan Jikosha Kaishain) on June 1, 1934, and was founded by being Yoshisuke
Aikawa. For two years (1947
to
1948) the company was briefly called Nissan Heavy Industries Corp. (日産重工業).
Products
Nissan has produced an extensive range
of mainstream cars and
trucks, initially for domestic consumption but exported around the world
since the
1950s. There was a major strike in
1953.
It also produced several memorable
sports cars, including the
Z-car, an affordable sports car originally introduced in the
1969; and the
Skyline GT-R, a hugely-powerful
four-wheel-drive sports coupe that
is regarded by many as Japan's
Porsche 911 and that has unfortunately rarely been seen (except as a
gray import) outside Japan.
Nissan is also responsible for vehicles manufactured
under the
Infiniti moniker.
Past
and current models, partial list (U.S.)
-
Datsun 1200 Sedan (1958)
-
Datsun Truck (1959)
-
Datsun SPL 210 (1960)
-
Datsun Bluebird (1962)
-
Datsun Patrol (1962)
-
Datsun 1500, 1600, 2000 Roadster (1962-1970)
-
Datsun 510 Sedan (1968-1973)
-
Datsun 240Z (1969)
-
Datsun 260Z
-
Datsun B210
-
Datsun King Cab Truck
-
Nissan 280Z
-
Nissan Sentra
-
Nissan Stanza
-
Nissan 300Z
-
Nissan Hardbody Truck
-
Nissan Pathfinder
-
Nissan Altima
-
Nissan Frontier
-
Nissan Maxima
-
Nissan Murano
-
Nissan NX
-
Nissan 200SX
-
Nissan Pulsar
-
Nissan 240SX
-
Nissan Sentra
-
Nissan Sentra SE-R
-
Nissan Quest
-
Nissan Xterra
-
Nissan 350Z
Past
and present models, partial list (non-U.S.)
-
Nissan Sunny
-
Nissan X-Trail
-
Nissan Skyline
-
Nissan Fairlady
-
Nissan Wingroad
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