History
The Nissan Motor Company, Ltd., has been in existence in one form or another for over 100 years. The mother company, Kwaishinsha Motor Car Works, was founded in 1911, was renamed Kwaishinsha Motorcar Co. Ltd. in 1918 and then changed again to DAT Jidosha Co. Ltd. in 1925. DAT Motors then merged with the Osaka-based Jitsuyo Jidosha Co. Ltd. in 1926. It’s founder, Masujiro Hashimoto graduated as a mechanical engineer from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce sent Hashimoto to the US where he studied manufacturing methods. After returning to his native country, he was employed in various fields including electrical engineering, designing coal mining equipment and manufacturing steam engines and machine guns.
The name ‘Nissan’ is the truncated form of Nihon Sangyo, or Japan Industries. It’s founder, Yoshisuke Aikawa created the company Nihon Sangyo in 1928 and it has a number of subsidiary companies such as Tobata Casting and Hitachi. The abbreviated word, ‘Nissan’, was much easier to use on the Tokyo stock market. In 1931, Jitsuyo Jidosha Co. Ltd. was changed to Jidosha Seiz, or Jidosha Manufacturing. The company went through another change in 1934 and was owned jointly by Nihon Sangyo and Hitachi but it was changed again to Manchuria Heavy Industries Developing Co., in 1937. After World War 2 the Nissan Group and its affiliated company Hitachi Group turned their focus directly on the auto industry.
Major Events
In 1908 DAT’s chief designer William R. Gorham, an American engineer, incorporated his country’s cutting-edge technology into the company’s manufacturing plant. His vision gave DAT the engineering foundation they needed to become successful. Their first vehicle, DAT, was introduced in 1914, and was an acronym of the company’s investors’ family names. In 1931 they produced a new small car aptly named, Datson / Datsun, or son of dat. When Nissan took control of the business once more they changed the last syllable of the car’s name from an ‘o’ to a ‘u’; the word ‘son’ means ‘loss’ and the Datsun name was born.
During World War 2 Nissan built engines, trucks and airplanes for the Japanese military. In 1944 the company went through another name change, becoming Nissan Heavy Industries, Ltd. During the real estate crash of the early 1990s the Nissan Group fell heavily into debt. The French company, Renault SA, invested $5.4 billion, gaining 38.8% of the company’s shares.
The Nissan company has a core of businesses such as real estate, fisheries, mining and insurance. However, Nissan Mutual Life Insurance went bankrupt in 1997. Nissan Motor Company is the parent company to the Infiniti Motor Company and was founded in 1989. Their headquarters was originally located in Hong Kong but moved its offices to Yokahama in 2012. The Infiniti is a luxury vehicle introduced into the US solely to gain a foothold in the American market. By imposing voluntary export restraints for the US market, the Japanese government has made it more profitable for Nissan to export more expensive cars. Many of the Infiniti models compete directly with Mercedes, Daimler, Jaguar, BMW, Alfa Romeo and Cadillac Fleetwood.
Over the years, Nissan has either merged or partnered with a number of auto companies including Prince Motor Company, Ford, Volkswagen and Austin Motor Company. Renault-Nissan Alliance has teamed up with Alliance Rostec Auto BV in 2012 in a bid to control Russia’s largest car company. In 2014, Nissan cars will be produced by Renault-Samsung in South Korea. Because they have always diversified and learned new techniques the company has continued to be a driving force in the automobile industry.
Going Forward
Nissan has committed itself to the following 6 primary goals to advancing the future technologies in their brand:
• Approach To Fundamental Technology: To use a 3 phase process of engaging trust and buy-in through customer faith in component technology.
• All-Around Driving System: Developing and integrating a full 360 degree safety protection and monitoring system.
• Nissan’s Safety Technology Development Concept: Increasing safety awareness worldwide.
• Pure Drive: Developing standards on clean and efficient vehicles.
• “Zero-Emission” Leadership: developing and standardizing the various electric vehicle or fuel cell vehicle technologies.
• Environmental Undertaking: Using an environmental action plan to improve the earth.
