More than the Name: Who are Nissan Really?
Some brands and cars are so well-known that they can almost become a fixture of every day life to see. Whose NOT seen at least 3 Nissan Micra cars today alone? How many people in your neighbourhood own a Qashqui or Juke? They are one of the most successful automobile manufacturers in the world yet are very under-stated due to their sheer popularity.
But how did this company rise through from obscurity into such a place as one of the United Kingdoms favourites? NisMotors - as your humble experts in Nissan Servicing Woking and beyond - would like to fill you in on more than Nissans name;
Who are Nissan?
Nissan - or Nissan Jidōsha Kabushiki-gaisha in Japanese, usually shortened to just the first - is a multinational automobile manufacturer based and headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan.
Founded as Kwaishinsha Motor Car Works in 1911 by Masujiro Hashimoto - the company produced its first car the DAT - after the initials of its first 3 investors.
In 1931 - after producing mostly light goods vehicles and trucks under several different brand names and variations - the first Datson was produced. A smaller car, it’s name effectively meant ‘Son of DAT’, it would eventually become the well known ‘Datsun’ after its takeover by Nissan in 1933 - shortly after which Nissan Motor was founded in 1934.
A company and business model that is coloured by collaboration with American and European manufactures, Nissan - with Datsun, and eventually Infiniti - would continue the truly world-spanning nature of the brand.
Interesting Facts
Around 1999 Nissan were in the depths of massive financial problems that threatened its continued ability to produce. This is when they joined with the French automobile manufacture Renault in the ‘Renault-Nissan Alliance’ which effectively merged the corporate hierarchy whilst maintaining the two distinctly different brands and cultures between the companies separately from one another.
From this agreement, the company was saved by the efforts of Carlos Ghosn - made Chief Executive officer of Nissan and later President of Renault - who effectively saved the company with his revival plan and made them a power-house that even Daimler AG sought to seek shares in and sharing it’s innovations and technology with.
Another interesting historical factoid is that, during the height of the Korean War in 1953 Nissan was a major contributor of vehicle production to the US Military - which flared anti-communist sentiment back in Japan.
This would lead to the 100 Day Strike of 1953, where Nissan - wrought by financial difficulties - was afflicted in a pay dispute that saw unions strike. The Japanese Government and US occupation forces arrested several union leaders. A new union was formed under a Shioji Ichiro who pushed a compromise between wage cuts and loss of over 2000 jobs. His intervention not only made productivity boom in the resultant years, but he would become President of the Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers Unions and become massively influential in the Japanese Labour Movement.
One last factoid is that Nissan holds a beauty pageant. Relating to choosing the best out of showroom attendants, this came about after renewed investment after the 1964 Summer Olympics and their establishment of new floor showrooms in Ginza, Tokyo. Nissan held this competition to choose five candidates as the first class of Nissan Miss Fairladys, modelled after "Datsun Demonstrators" from the 1930s who introduced cars.
The Fairlady name was used as a link to the popular Broadway play My Fair Lady that was showing at the time. Miss Fairladys became the marketers of Datsun Fair Lady 1500. It’s a pageant that has only grown in numbers across Japan.
Most Well-Known Productions
Nissan has produced vehicles under many names before it’s own brand productions gained prominence. Iconic productions such as the Nissan Skyline production line - from R24 to the more recent GT-R - have been massively popular among the racing and car modification scene.
The most popular in the last few years are Nissans Juke & Qashqai for SUVs, the Nissan 350z and 370z sports cars and the Nissan Frontier and Navara for Pick-up trucks. All of these have smashed sales records and have had massive acclaim from car review publications and surveys.
Nissan as a brand has one of the widest influences in the automotive industry, being connected to the majority of other companies and standing as the 6th largest producer of cars in the world. Plus their quality of workmanship and unique style gives them a very loyal following - with us included!
For Quality, Professional care for your Nissan motor - call NisMotors today on 07901 565057 for the leading Nissan Garage in Godalming