There seems to have been a long-standing “official” corporation bias in Japan against the usage of the name “Datsun.” Kawamata, a Nissan veteran who was in the final year of his presidency at the time, was a significant figure with more than 20 years of experience there. In part as a result of his management of the crucial Nissan workers’ strike, which started on May 25, 1953, and lasted over 100 days, he rose to become its head in 1957. When he was president, Kawamata claimed he would “regretted that, unlike Toyota, his company did not brand its name on cars. In retrospect, he says, “We wish we had started using Nissan on all of our automobiles.” But when we started exporting, people just called the automobiles Datsun.”
In order to reinforce the business name Nissan, it was ultimately decided to stop using the brand name Datsun everywhere.
“The decision to rename Nissan from Datsun in the United States was made in the fall of 1981 (September/October). The justification for the name change was that it would facilitate the pursuit of a worldwide strategy. The possibilities of using marketing initiatives, brochures, and other promotional materials internationally would rise with the adoption of a single name, and product design and production would be made easier. Additionally, when visiting other nations, potential customers would come in contact with the brand and the goods. However, industry experts hypothesized that the primary driving force behind the name change was Nissan’s desire to increase its ability to sell stocks and bonds in the United States. They also assumed a significant amount of ego involvement because Nissan officials who had watched Toyota and Honda become household names were doubtless miffed by the lack of the Nissan name in the United States.”
The name change campaign ultimately lasted for three years, from 1982 to 1984; however, in some export markets, vehicles continued to wear both the Datsun and Nissan badges until 1986. Datsun badged vehicles had gradually been fitted with small “Nissan” and “Datsun by Nissan” badges from the late 1970s onward, until the Nissan name was given prominence in 1983. In the United Kingdom, for instance, Datsun continued to be used as the manufacturer’s name from 1982 to 1984 while Nissan was initially used as a prefix to the model name (e.g., Datsun-Nissan Micra). The Nissan Stanza and Nissan Sentra were new models for 1982 in the United States, while the Datsun name continued to be used on older vehicles through 1983, including the confusingly named Datsun Maxima, which like the Stanza and Sentra was a new model for 1982 but was actually a renamed Datsun 810. Nissan’s final tangible link to its Datsun era will be the Maxima and Z, which will continue to be produced in North America starting in 2021.
Nissan had spent perhaps in the neighborhood of $500 million on the name change. Operational expenses totaled $30 million and included updating the signage at 1,100 Datsun dealerships. Another $200 million was spent on advertising campaigns from 1982 to 1986, during which the “The Name is Nissan” campaign triumphed over the “Datsun, We Are Driven!” campaign, which had been launched in late 1977 in response to the 1973 oil crisis and the ensuing 1979 energy crisis (the latter campaign was used for some years beyond 1985). $50 million more was spent on Datsun advertising that were purchased but never aired. Datsun continued to be more well-known than Nissan five years after the name change initiative was completed.
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The Nissan Motor Company
DAT changed its name to Nissan Motor Company, Ltd. in 1933. However, even when the company’s automobiles were initially introduced to American consumers in 1958, the majority of them still carried the Datsun label. According to historians, the company’s readiness to separate the automobiles sold there from its support of Japan’s World War II operations may have led to the practice.
The Datsun brand of Nissan is revived after more than 30 years.
It was one of the brands that supported the growth of Japanese automakers in the US and Europe.
The Datsun was the go-to vehicle for the average driver fed up with unreliable gas guzzlers in the 1970s because of its high fuel efficiency.
The Datsun has now been revived, more than 30 years after Nissan opted to discontinue the brand.
An updated model, geared toward first-time automobile buyers eager to climb the auto ownership ladder, was introduced in India on Monday.
Next year, India will begin selling the new 1.2-liter five-seat hatchback for less than 400,000 rupees ($6,670; APS4,500). Additionally, Russia and Indonesia will sell it.
According to the brand’s new website, Datsun is the name of “the Riesers Young innovators who are ahead of the curve in fast-growing markets “.
The white and contemporary styling of the new car stands in stark contrast to the outmoded, square design of the past, when brown, orange, and red were the most popular colors.
In 1914, the first Dat-Car (Dat-GO in Japanese) was introduced. It literally means “Lightning quick” and was given the company’s three investors’ first names.
The Datsun brand was phased out in 1981, and Nissan took its place as the company’s flagship brand after selling 20 million automobiles in 190 nations.
But Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said, “The Datsun is back… Datsun will help people fulfill the goal of owning a car,” at the introduction of the new Datsun Go in New Delhi.
Recall Datsun? It’s Resurfacing From the Rubbish Piles
You likely know about Datsun if you loved or were a car enthusiast in the 1960s and 1970s. A new generation of shoppers from other countries will also soon be aware of it.
Doesn’t seem familiar. Datsun existed prior to Toyota, of course. Its first automobiles were put up for sale in Japan in 1931, five years ahead of Toyota.
Up until Nissan Motor Company, the owner of Datsun, controversially dropped the Datsun brand in favor of its own in 1986, the company was a significant player in the worldwide auto industry.
Nissan announced on Tuesday that it would resurrect the Datsun brand for a series of affordable small cars that would be offered for sale in Russia, India, and Indonesia. Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan/Renault, made the news while on a visit to Jakarta. Along with Nissan and Infiniti, Ghosn wants Datsun to become Nissan’s third international brand.
Nissan can probably avoid the problems it ran into in the US when Datsun was kicked out in 1981 by sticking to new models for emerging countries.
One of the most noteworthy branding decisions in the history of the auto industry was Nissan’s choice to rename Datsun to Nissan. Datsun had been selling cars in the United States since 1958, when Nissan dispatched two executives to aid in increasing sales and brand recognition.
Like Toyota, Datsun started off slowly but acquired popularity thanks to the Z sports car, currently regarded as a classic, and the fuel-efficient B-210 small (marketed as the Bluebird internationally). Steve Wozniak, a co-founder of Apple, was one of its prominent supporters and even made an appearance in a Datsun ad.
Therefore, when the corporation started the process of changing its American dealerships and badges to Nissan, many owners were taken aback. It was a well-known brand in Japan, where its parent business was a major player in the industry.
However, Nissan was not well-known in the United States, and the change caused a great deal of confusion among American automobile buyers. It took time for Americans to get used to saying Nissan. According to several analysts, the decision likely cost Nissan crucial time in its battle with Toyota and Honda.
There are now no plans to sell the new Datsuns in the United States, but that may change depending on how well they perform in the European and UK markets.
Even if he (and the automobiles) won’t look like this, The Woz is still alive and well to star in another commercial.
The beginning of Datsun and the name’s genesis
The DAT was developed by Kwaishinsha Jidosha Kojo, which was established in 1911 by M. Hashimoto and is where the word “Datsun” originated. His goal was to build cars that would work in Japan and, ideally, export them. When he finished building a tiny 10-horsepower car in 1914, he gave it the name “DAT” by using the first initials of the surnames of his three investors: K. Den, R. Aoyama, and M. Takeuchi.
Later, the Jitsuyo Jidosha Co., Ltd. and Kwaishinsha amalgamated to become the Dat Jidosha Seizo Co. The business continued to make military vehicles, but in 1931 it created a brand-new civilian automobile (500cc, 10ps) that reflected the DAT philosophy. The name DATSON, which means “Son of DAT,” was given to it because it was more compact than the original DAT. When the car went on sale in March 1932, the name was altered from son—which in Japanese means “loss”—to “SUN,” which conjures up images of brightness.
According to reports, Nissan would no longer use the Datsun brand name in developing markets.
The cars and trucks Nissan displayed at the 1959 Los Angeles Auto Show when it first entered North America in 1958 were known as Datsuns. And this branding persisted for them until 1983.
In fact, the Datsun brand was the foundation for the company’s very survival in this continent. The Datsun 1600 Roadster, the Datsun 510 sedan, the now-famous Datsun 240Z, and the original Datsun King Cab compact pickup truck were among the models that helped establish the popularity of Japanese automobiles in North America as well as their reputation for performance and dependability.
Instead of Toyota, Honda, or Volkswagen, Datsun was the most popular import brand in the US in 1975.
The business then stated that the Datsun brand name would be changed to Nissan in the fall of 1981, purportedly as part of a global marketing strategy. It took a long time, cost a lot of money, and caused a lot of market turmoil before it was finally finished in 1986.
The Datsun brand was revived by the business in 2012, but only for a few entry-level models that were offered in emerging regions like Indonesia, Nepal, South Africa, India, and Russia.
In reaction to persistent financial challenges made worse by the Covid-19 outbreak, Nissan is now preparing to phase out the Datsun brand once more, according to an article in Automotive News Europe. The story stated that the plans still need to be evaluated by Nissan’s board and could possibly alter.