Datsun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the New Zealand rock band, see The Datsuns.
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| Industry | Automobile |
|---|---|
| Fate | Brand discontinued/Merged into Nissan/Revived in 2012 |
| Successor(s) | Nissan brand name |
| Founded | 1931 (first use of Datsun brand name) 2014 (as a low-cost complement brand for Nissan in emerging markets) |
| Defunct | circa 1983 and became Nissan |
| Headquarters | Japan |
| Key people | Yoshisuke Ayukawa, Founder of Nissan Sangyo Yutaka Katayama, President, Nissan Motor Corporation in U.S.A. Katsuji Kawamata, President, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. |
| Products | Cars and light trucks |
| Parent | Nissan Motor Company |
Contents |
History
The origins of Datsun
Further information: Nissan
Before the Datsun brand name came into being, an automobile named the
DAT car was built in 1914, by the Kaishinsha Motorcar Works (快進自動車工場 Kaishin Jidōsha Kōjō), in the Azabu-Hiroo District in Tokyo. The new car's name was an acronym of the company's partners' surnames:- Kenjiro Den (田 健次郎 Den Kenjirō)
- Rokuro Aoyama (青山 禄朗 Aoyama Rokurō)
- Meitaro Takeuchi (竹内 明太郎 Takeuchi Meitarō).
Conflicting information
From What's in a Name? The Change From Datsun to Nissan by Daniel Banks, "This despite Business Week’s error that Den, Aoyama, and Takeuchi founded Nissan. They did not, of course. Kenjiro Den, Rokuro Aoyama, and Meitaro Takeuchi were 3 financial backers and friends for one of the originators of the Japanese automobile industry, Masujiro Hashimoto, who founded Kaishinsha Jidosha Koto, or “Kaishinsha Motor Car Works” in 1911."[4]The firm was renamed Kaishinsha Motorcar Co. in 1918, seven years after their establishment and again, in 1925, to DAT Motorcar Co. DAT Motors constructed trucks in addition to the DAT passenger cars. In fact, their output focused on trucks since there was almost no consumer market for passenger cars at the time. Beginning in 1918, the first DAT trucks were assembled for the military market. The low demand from the military market during the 1920s forced DAT to consider merging with other automotive industries. In 1926 the Tokyo-based DAT Motors merged with the Osaka-based Jitsuyo Jidosha Co., Ltd. (実用自動車製造株式会社 Jitsuyō Jidōsha Seizō Kabushiki-Gaisha) also known as Jitsuyo Motors (established 1919, as a Kubota subsidiary) to become DAT Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (ダット自動車製造株式会社 Datto Jidōsha Seizō Kabushiki-Gaisha) in Osaka until 1932. (Jitsuyo Jidosha began producing a three-wheeled vehicle with an enclosed cab called the Gorham in 1920, and the following year produced a four-wheeled version. From 1923 to 1925, the company produced light cars and trucks under the name of Lila.[5])
The DAT corporation had been selling full size cars to Japanese consumers under the DAT name since 1914 (Madely, pg. 19), but in 1930 the Japanese government created a ministerial ordinance that allowed cars with engines up to 500 cc to be driven without a license. (TOGO, pg. 11). DAT Automobile Manufacturing began development of a line of 495 cc cars to sell in this new market segment, calling the new small cars "Datson" - meaning "Son of DAT". The name was changed to "Datsun" two years later in 1933.(Madely, pg. 20)
The first prototype Datson was completed in the summer of 1931.[6] The production vehicle was called the Datson Type 10, and "approximately ten" of these cars were sold in 1931.[7] They sold around 150 cars in 1932, now calling the model the Datson Type 11.[7] In 1933, government rules were revised to permit 750 cc (46 cu in) engines, and Datsun increased the displacement of their microcar engine to the maximum allowed.[7] These larger displacement cars were called Type 12s.[8]
By 1935, the company had established a true production line, following the example of Ford, and were producing a car closely resembling the Austin 7.[9]
After Japan went to war with China in 1937, passenger car production was restricted, so by 1938, Datsun's Yokohama plant concentrated on building trucks for the Imperial Japanese Army.[9]
When the Pacific War ended, Datsun would turn to providing trucks for the Occupation forces.[9] This lasted until car production resumed in 1947.[9] As before the war, Datsun closely patterned their cars on contemporary Austin products: postwar, the Devon and Somerset were selected.[9] Not until 1955 did Datsun offer an indigenous design.[9]
That year, the Occupation returned production facilities to Japanese control, and Datsun introduced the 110 saloon and 110-based 120 pickup[9] (what rodders call a "pickoupe").
Datsun in the American market
Corporate choice favoured Datsun, so as to distance the parent factory Nissan’s association by Americans with Japanese military manufacture. In fact Nissan's involvement in Japan's military industries was substantial. The company's car production at the Yokohama plant shifted towards military needs just a few years after the first passenger cars rolled off the assembly line, on April 11, 1935. By 1939 Nissan's operations had moved to Manchuria, then under Japanese occupation, where its founder and President, Yoshisuke Ayukawa, established the Manchurian Motor Company to manufacture military trucks.
Ayukawa, a well connected and aggressive risk taker, also made himself a principal partner of the Japanese Colonial Government of Manchukuo.[10] Ultimately, Nissan Heavy Industries emerged near the end of the war as an important player in Japan’s war machinery. After the war ended, Soviet Union seized all of Nissan’s Manchuria assets, while the Occupation Forces made use of over half of the Yokohama plant. General MacArthur had Ayukawa imprisoned for 21 months as a war criminal. After release he was forbidden from returning to any corporate or public office until 1951. He was never allowed back into Nissan, which returned to passenger car manufacture in 1947 and to its original name of Nissan Motor Company Ltd. in 1949.
The company's first product to be exported around the world was the 113, with a proprietary25 hp (19 kW; 25 PS) 850 cc (52 cu in) four-cylinder engine.[12]
Datsun entered the American market in 1958, with sales in California.[13] By 1959, the company had dealers across the U.S.[13] and began selling the 310 (known as Bluebird domestically).[13]
From 1960 on, exports and production continued to grow. A new plant was built at Oppama, south of Yokohama; it opened in 1962. The next year, Bluebird sales first topped 200,000, and exports touched 100,000.[13] By 1964, Bluebird was being built at 10,000 cars a month.[13]
For 1966, Datsun debuted the 1000, allowing owners of 360 cc (22 cu in) kei cars to move up to something bigger.[13] That same year, Datsun won the East African Safari Rally and merged with Prince Motors, giving the company the Skyline model range, as well as a test track at Murayama.[13]
The company introduced the Bluebird 510 in 1967.[13] This was followed in 1968 with the iconic 240Z, which proved affordable sports cars could be built and sold profitably: it was soon the world's #1-selling sports car.[14] It relied on an engine based on the Bluebird and used Bluebird suspension components.[15] It would go on to two outright wins in the East African Rally.[15]
Katayama was made Vice President of the Nissan North American subsidiary in 1960, and as long as he was involved in decision making, both as North American Vice President from 1960 to 1965, and then President of Nissan Motor Company – USA from 1965 to 1975, the cars were sold as Datsuns. “What we need to do is improve our car’s efficiency gradually and creep up slowly before others notice. Then, before Detroit realizes it, we will have become an excellent car maker, and the customers will think so too. If we work hard to sell our own cars, we won’t be bothered by whatever the other manufacturers do. If all we do is worry about the other cars in the race, we will definitely lose.”[16]
Rebranding
Ultimately, the decision was made to stop using the brand name Datsun worldwide, in order to strengthen the company name Nissan.
"The decision to change the name Datsun to Nissan in the U.S. was announced in the autumn (September/October) of 1981. The rationale was that the name change would help the pursuit of a global strategy. A single name worldwide would increase the possibility that advertising campaigns, brochures, and promotional materials could be used across countries and simplify product design and manufacturing. Further, potential buyers would be exposed to the name and product when traveling to other countries. Industry observers, however, speculated that the most important motivation was that a name change would help Nissan market stocks and bonds in the U.S. They also presumed substantial ego involvement, since the absence of the Nissan name in the U.S. surely rankled Nissan executives who had seen Toyota and Honda become household words."[19]
Ultimately, the name change campaign lasted for a three-year period from 1982 to 1984 (Datsun badged vehicles had been progressively fitted with small "Nissan" and "Datsun by Nissan" badges from the late 1970s onward) until the Nissan name was given prominence in 1983 - although in some export markets vehicles continued to wear both the Datsun and Nissan badges until 1986. The name change had cost Nissan a figure in the region of US$500 million. Operational costs included the changing of signs at 1,100 Datsun dealerships, and amounted to US$30 million. Another US$200 million were spent during the 1982 to 1986 advertising campaigns, where the "Datsun, We Are Driven!" campaign yielded to "The Name is Nissan" campaign. (The latter campaign was used for some years beyond 1985.) Another US$50 million was spent on Datsun advertisements that were paid for but stopped or never used.[20] Five years after the name change program was over, Datsun still remained more familiar than Nissan.[21]
Datsun truck
 Image of the 2002 Datsun pick-up truck |
External images
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