Nissan Motors Company, Limited enjoys a very high level of reputation in the highly competitive automobile industry of the world. The various models launched by the company are distributed in different corners of the world. Initially, this automobile manufacturing company from Japan used to market vehicles under the Datsun brand name. However, one can proudly take the name of Nissan Motors amongst the largest car manufacturing companies. The current headquarter of the company is situated in the Ginza area of Chuo-ku, Tokyo, but there are some positive plans made by the company to shift their headquarters to Yokohama, Kanagawa by 2010. Currently, Nissan Motor Company is the third largest Japanese car manufacturing company when sales are taken into consideration.
Beginning
The beginning of this well-known automobile company is quite different from others. The deep roots of the company can be traced back to the year 1914. It was during this time when the company Datsun took birth. In this very year, the Kwaishinsha Motorcar Works located in Azabu-Hiroo, Tokyo developed the first DAT model. From 1925 onwards, the company began to be known as DAT Motorcar Company and it restricted itself to manufacturing trucks only. In 1926, there was a merger with the Osaka-based Jitsuyo Jidosha Co., Limited and after that it came to be known as DAT Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
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It was only in 1928, when the name 'Nissan' came in the scene. 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, a separate automobile parts division of Tobata Casting was started by Aikawa which he named it Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. In the beginning, there was some doubt on the minds of the shareholders who believed that there was not much growth of any automobile company in Japan. But Aikawa's thought was totally different and so he purchased all the Tobata Casting shareholders. At this time Nissan Motors used to operate under the ownership of Nippon Sangyo and Hitachi. Initially, this company gave stress on manufacturing 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. Mitsubishi on behalf of Nissan imported the machinery into Japan.
Merge With Other Companies
From 1993-2002 Nissan partnered with Ford Motors Company to market a consumer-friendly minivan, the Mercury Villager and the Nissan Quest. Nissan even partnered with Austin Motor Company for producing and marketing the well-known model named Austin for seven years. In 1996, with the merge with the Prince Motor Company, Nissan began to manufacture more up market cars, such as the Skyline and Gloria. Nissan introduced a new luxury brand for the US market in the early 1990s calling 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. In the present scenario, the Nissan Motors is amongst the top three Asian rivals who give tough competition to the U.S automobile companies. For 2008, Nissan Motors has launched various models like 2008 Nissan Sentra, 2008 Nissan Quest, 2008 Nissan Pathfinder along with many others.
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