Datsun got its name because the Japanese word son means loss
In 1931 a small Japanese carmaker launched the Datson, meaning son of DAT. Two years later new owners changed the spelling, because son sounds like the Japanese word for loss. The renamed Datsun became the seed of Nissan, a company that learned to build cars from an American engineer and a British licence.
The story begins on 1 July 1911, when Masujiro Hashimoto opened the Kwaishinsha Motor Car Works in Tokyo. Its first car, in 1914, was the DAT, named from the initials of the company's investors. Demand for passenger cars barely existed, so the firm mostly built trucks, many for the army and for rebuilding after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Mergers followed, and the smaller Datsun Type 11 appeared in 1931, the Datson spelling changing to Datsun under new ownership.
Nissan itself was a stock-exchange abbreviation for Nihon Sangyo, a holding company founded in 1928 by Yoshisuke Aikawa. His conglomerate, which grew to 74 firms, absorbed the car business through its Tobata Casting subsidiary, and in 1934 Aikawa spun out the parts division as Nissan Motor, buying out doubtful shareholders. The Yokohama plant was finished in 1935. Nissan built trucks, aircraft and engines for the Imperial Japanese Army and in 1937 moved its headquarters to Manchukuo.
Much of the know-how was American. DAT had inherited William R. Gorham, an engineer from Kubota, and Aikawa had visited Detroit in 1908. The journalist David Halberstam wrote that in terms of technology Gorham was Nissan's real founder. Britain mattered too: Datsun built Austin Sevens under licence from 1934, and a 1952 deal to assemble Austins required Nissan to make every part locally within three years. It met that target and later used Austin patents to develop its own engines, leading to the overhead-cam L engine of 1967 that powered the respected Datsun 510.
A 1966 merger with Prince Motor brought the Skyline and Gloria and front-wheel-drive expertise. Since 1999 Nissan has been allied with Renault, and with Mitsubishi from 2016. After a 671 billion yen loss in 2024/2025, chief executive Ivan Espinosa announced seven factory closures and 20,000 job cuts by 2027.
Source: Nissan
