History Of Nissan

An American-trained engineer - Sotaro Hashimoto - started the Kwaishinsha Company in 1911. It was Hashimoto who built the very first Japanese cars, named DAT after the initials of his financial backers. Dat also means "fast hare" in Japanese. In 1930 they produced a 'baby car' christening it Datson or "son of Dat". Because of negative connotations associated with the word "son", the name was soon converted to Datsun.

In 1933 the Nissan Motor Company was established in Yokohama to and began to build the Austin A40. After the war the car factories were returned to their original owners. Datsun was considered the boldest most daring manufacturer among the Japanese thanks to its consistent sports car program during the 50's, 60's and early 70's. The Datsun name was used for passenger cars, while 'Nissan' was used only on commercial vehicles. In 1982 the corporate name "Nissan" started being used for all vehicles.