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Headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, Nissan Motor Corporation is one of the leading automobile manufacturers worldwide – here’s how it began. 

In 1911, Masujiro Hashimoto founded Kwaishinsha Motor Car Works to begin the production of automobiles in Tokyo. 

Three years later, the company produced its first vehicle, the DAT, named after its three investors (Den, Aoyama, and Takeuchi). 

Then, in 1925 Kwaishinsha Motor Car Works merged with Jitsuyo Jidosha Company, an Osaka-based manufacturer of small trucks and car parts, to become DAT Jidosha Seizo Company. In 1933, the company was moved to Yokohama and renamed once again to only Jidosha-Seizo Company.

Apart from that, Japanese businessman and politician, Yoshisuke Aikawa, founded Nihon Sangyo, a holding company of several foundries and car part businesses in 1928. When the firm went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, it was abbreviated, and became the origin of its current name, Nissan. 

Although Nihon Sangyo (Ni-San) had relations with auto parts, it wasn’t until 1933 when it entered the car manufacturing industry by taking control of Jidosha-Seizo and merging it with Tobata Casting, another company under Nissan. The following year, Tobata Casting expanded and incorporated into its own subsidiary as Nissan Motor Corporation. 

In early, 1965, the manufacturer’s vehicles arrived in Canada, under the name Datsun, Nissan’s export brand. Within the first year of full entry, an impressive 84 dealers opened across the country. One of its early models, the Datsun 510 appeared in 1968, and by 1971, Datsun became the top-selling import brand nationally. 

Today, popular Nissan models include the Rogue, Altima, and Sentra as well as its electric car model, the Leaf. In 2021 alone, the company has already sold over 78,000 vehicles to Canadians under its Nissan and Infiniti brands.