History of the Nissan Motor Company

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Nissan is among the top three Asian rivals of the "big three" in the US.

The company marketed vehicles under the Nissan and Datsun brand names until 1983, when the Datsun brand name was dropped. Nissan is Japan's second largest car company after Toyota. After reports of poor Japanese management at Nissan during the 1990s, it agreed to the French manufacturer Renault buying a 44.4 percent stake in the company, while Nissan picked up a 15 percent stake in Renault (no-voting stocks).

Under foreign-born president Carlos Ghosn's "Nissan Revival Plan" (NRP), the company has rebounded in what many leading economists consider to be one of the most spectacular corporate turnarounds in history, catapulting Nissan to record profits and a dramatic revitalization of both its Nissan and Infiniti model line-ups. Despite the turnaround, Infiniti sales have been a disappointment. In 2001, the company initiated Nissan 180, capitalizing on the success of the NRP. Ghosn has been recognized in Japan for the company's turnaround in the midst of an ailing Japanese economy. Ghosn and the Nissan turnaround were featured in Japanese manga and popular culture. His achievements in revitalizing Nissan were noted by Emperor Akihito, who awarded him the Japan Medal with Blue Ribbon in 2004.

VQ V6 have been listed among "Ward's 10 Best Engines" for 12 straight years, since the award's inception. A new generation VQ series engine will premiere on the next generation Infiniti G35, the future Skyline GT-R and the 2007 Nissan 350Z. Their will also be a new generation 2.5VQ 4-cylinder engine that will power the next generation Altima and likely will power the upcoming SPEC-V 2007 Sentra (which will make its debut in October of 2006 followed by the new Altima in November).

In 1914, the Kwaishinsha Motorcar Works, 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. 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., established in 1919, as DAT Automobile Manufacturing Co. Ltd. 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" in Japanese, hence the name "Datsun".

In 1933, the company name was Nipponized to Jidosha-Seizo Co. Ltd. and moved to Yokohama. In 1934, Jidosha-Seizo merged with a fellow Japanese automanufacturer named Nihon Sangyo Co. Ltd. ("Japan Industry Co. Ltd.") who was popularly known as "Ni-San."

The company became Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. on June 1, 1934, and was founded by Yoshisuke Aikawa. Nissan built trucks, airplanes, and engines for the Japanese military. Their main plant was moved to China after the land was captured by the military. 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.

Like Hino and Isuzu, but unlike Toyota, Nissan partnered with a European company to gain access to automobile and engine designs. Nissan chose Austin of the United Kingdom, which later became the British Motor Corporation. Nissan began building Austin 7s in 1930, though the legitimacy of their license is debated. The company soon began producing a variety of Austin-derived models like the original Austin A50-based Datsun 1000. These designs were apparently covered by a 1952-1960 license agreement between the companies. After Nissan introduced its own models in the 1950s, they continued to develop their own engine designs past what the Austin's A- and B-family designs offered. In 1967 introduced its new highly advanced four cylinder overhead cam (OHC) Nissan L engine, which while similar to Mercedes-Benz OHC designs was a totally new engine designed by Nissan. This engine powered the new Datsun 510, which gained Nissan respect in the worldwide sedan market. Then, in 1970 Nissan introduced the 240Z sports car which used a six-cylinder variation of the L series engine. The 240z was an immediate sensation and lifted Nissan to world class status in the automobile market

In 1966, Nissan merged with the Prince Motor Company, bringing into its range more upmarket cars, including the Skyline and Gloria. The Prince name was eventually abandoned, with successive Skylines and Glorias bearing the Nissan name - however, "Prince" is still used in names of certain Nissan dealers in Japan. Nissan would introduce a new luxury brand for the US market in the early 1990s called Infiniti.

In the wake of the fuel crisis, Nissan became one of the world's largest exporters of automobiles and set up new factories in Mexico and Australia. The firm established assembly operations in the United States in the early 1980s, with a plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. This facility at first built only trucks, but has since been expanded to produce several car lines. An engine plant in Decherd, Tennessee followed, and most recently a second assembly plant in Canton, Mississippi.

In order to overcome export tariffs and delivery costs to its European customers, Nissan contemplated establishing a plant inside Europe's borders. After an extensive review, Sunderland in United Kingdom was chosen due to the local availability of a highly skilled workforce and its position near major ports. The plant was completed in 1986 as the subsidiary Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd. Since then it has arisen to achieve the highly coveted title of being the most productive plant in Europe, and by 2007 will be producing 400,000 vehicles per year.

Financial difficulties (approaching billions) in Australia in the late 1980s caused Nissan to cease production there. Due to the "Button Plan" the Australian operation was unique as the Nissan products were also rebadged both by Holden (Pulsar re-badged as Holden Astra), and Ford (Bluebird re-badged as Ford Corsair).

Nissan also produces cars at its factory near Pretoria, South Africa.

In 2002, Toyota and Nissan agree to tie up on Hybrid Technologies and in 2004, Nissan unveils Altima Hybrid Prototype.

Nissan began development of FCVs (hydrogen vehicles) in 1996 and launched limited lease sales of the X-Trail FCV in Japan in fiscal year 2003.

On May 17, 2006 Nissan releases Atlas 20 hybrid truck in Japan.

On June 30, 2006, General Motors convened an emergency board meeting to discuss a proposal by shareholder Kirk Kerkorian to form an alliance between GM and Renault-Nissan. CEO Rick Wagoner is studying the proposal.

The company's head office is now in Tokyo but will move back to Yokohama in 2009. Nissan North America will relocate its headquarters from Gardena, California to Franklin, Tennessee in 2008. It is due to California's business regulations and high costs of doing business in California.

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 Datsun Fairlady 1500, 1600 and 2000 Roadsters, the Z-car, an affordable sports car originally introduced in 1969; and the Skyline GT-R, a powerful all-wheel-drive sports coupe.

In 1985, Nissan created a tuning division, NISMO, for competition and performance development of such cars.

Until 1982, Nissan automobiles in most export markets were sold under the Datsun brand. Since 1989, Nissan has sold its luxury models in North America under the Infiniti brand.

Nissan also sells a small range of keicars, mainly as a joint venture with other Japanese manufacturers like Suzuki or Mitsubishi. Nissan does not develop these cars. Nissan also has shared model development of Japan domestic cars with other manufacturers, particularly Mazda, Subaru, Suzuki and Isuzu.

In China, Nissan produces cars in association with the Dongfeng Motor Group including the 2006 Nissan Livina Geniss. This is the first in the range of a new worldwide family of medium sized cars and is to make its world debut at the Guangzhou International Motor Show.

Nissan has also had a number of ventures outside the automotive industry, most notably the Tu-Ka mobile phone service (est. 1994), which was sold to DDI and Japan Telecom (both now merged into KDDI Corporation) in 1999. Nissan also owns Nissan Marine, a joint venture with Marubeni Corporation that produces motors for boats and other maritime equipment.