Datsun
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| Industry | Automotive |
|---|---|
| Fate | Discontinued (1986) Re-launched (2013) |
| Founded | 1931 2013 |
| Headquarters | Japan |
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Key people
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Yoshisuke Ayukawa (Nissan founder) Katsuji Kawamata (Nissan president) Yutaka Katayama (Nissan USA president) |
| Products | Automobiles, light trucks |
| Parent | Nissan |
| Website | datsun |
 Image of the 2002 Datsun pick-up truck
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Datsun is an automobile brand owned by Nissan. Datsun's original production run began in 1931. From 1958 to 1986, only vehicles exported by Nissan were identified as Datsun. By 1986 Nissan had phased out the Datsun name, but re-launched it in 2013 as the brand for low-cost vehicles manufactured for emerging markets.
In 1931, Dat Motorcar Co. chose to name its new small car "Datson", a name which indicated the new car's smaller size when compared to the DAT's larger vehicle already in production. When Nissan took control of DAT in 1934, the name "Datson" was changed to "Datsun", because "son" also means "loss" (損 son) in Japanese and also to honour the sun depicted in the national flag - thus the name Datsun: Dattosan (ダットサン Dattosan?). Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in March 1986. The Datsun name is internationally well known for the 510, Fairlady roadsters, the Fairlady (240Z) coupes, and recently, the Go hatchback.
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 surnames of the following company partners:
Fortuitously, datto (how a native Japanese speaker would pronounce "dat") means to "dash off like a startled rabbit" (脱兎), which was considered a good name for the little car. 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.)
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Wikipedia