Kwaishinsha Motorcar Works was founded in Tokyo in 1911, and built its first car - the DAT - in 1914. In 1920 the company was reorganized and renamed itself simply DAT. In 1931 they would design a smaller car, and call it “Datson” - “son of DAT”. A 1933 merger with Nihon Sangyo (popularly called Ni-San) would create Nissan Motor Company, although the name Datsun would be used on all their cars until 1983.
Prince Motor Company was acquired by Nissan in 1966. Through Prince, Nissan made a very important addition to its stable - the Skyline. In 1969 Nissan would introduce the Skyline GT-R, one of the most beloved cars in history. The 2009 edition GT-R is one of the fastest production cars on the planet, Nissan having succeeded in their plan to best the Porsche 997t at its home track, Nürburgring.
By March of 1999, Nissan was deeply in debt and entered into an alliance with Renault SA of France. Nissan fired their executives and under new president Carlos Ghosn’s “Nissan Revival Plan”, the company has rebounded in what many leading economists consider to be one of the most spectacular corporate turnarounds in history, catapulting Nissan to record profits. Ghosn’s efforts were noted in 2004 by Emperor Akihito, who awarded him the Japan Medal with Blue Ribbon.