Nissan Motor Company, Limited is a well known automobile manufacturer from Japan. Earlier, this company used to market vehicles under the Datsun brand name. Today, the name of Nissan Motors can be counted amongst the largest car manufacturers of the world. With the current headquarters located in the Ginza area of Chuo-ku, Tokyo, the company has plans to shift their headquarters to Yokohama, Kanagawa by 2010. Construction work for the new building premises is going on at full swing.
Initial Stage
The roots of the company can be traced back to the year 1914 when the company Datsun took birth. During this year, the Kwaishinsha Motorcar Works located in Azabu-Hiroo, Tokyo developed the first DAT model. From 1925, it began to be known as DAT Motorcar Company and used to manufacture trucks also. In 1926, the company merged with the Osaka-based Jitsuyo Jidosha Co., Ltd. to become DAT Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
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It was only in 1928, when the name 'Nissan' originated. In this year, Yoshisuke Aikawa founded the holding company Nippon Sangyo. This company was the famous Nissan "Zaibatsu" which included Tobata Casting and Hitachi. At this time Nissan controlled foundries and auto parts businesses, but Aikawa did not came into the scene until 1933. Soon, the company began to grow fast and included 74 firms to become the fourth-largest combine in Japan during World War II. |
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Birth of Nissan Motors
In 1934, Aikawa started a separate automobile parts division of Tobata Casting and he named the new subsidiary as Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Initially, the shareholders were not enthusiastic about the prospects of the automobile company in Japan, so Aikawa purchased all the Tobata Casting shareholders. At this time Nissan Motors came under the ownership of Nippon Sangyo and Hitachi. Initially, Nissan began to manufacture trucks, airplanes and engines for the Japanese military. After Aikawa visited Detroit in 1908, he planned to use the latest cutting-edge auto-making technologies that were popular in America. However, it was American designer, William R. Gorham who carried out this plan. All the machinery, vehicle designs and engine designs were taken from the USA. Much of the tooling came from the Graham factory and with the help of a Graham license, Nissan used to manufacture trucks. The machinery was imported into Japan by Mitsubishi on behalf of Nissan.
Merge With Other Companies
From 1993-2002 Nissan partnered with Ford to market a consumer-friendly minivan, the Mercury Villager and the Nissan Quest. Nissan even partnered with Austin Motor Company for producing and marketing Austins for seven years. In 1966, Nissan merged with the Prince Motor Company, bringing into its range more upmarket cars, including the Skyline and Gloria. Nissan introduced a new luxury brand for the US market in the early 1990s called it Infiniti. In 1999, Nissan Motors had entered into an alliance with Renault S.A. of France for making a mark in the global market.
Present Scenario
The Nissan VQ engines of V6 configuration are so powerful and best in quality that they are featured among Ward's 10 Best Engines for almost twelve years. This company is among the top three Asian rivals who are giving tough competition to the U.S automobile companies. Currently, Nissan Motor Company is the third largest Japanese car manufacturing company when sales are taken into consideration.
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