Datsun: History, Landmark Models and the Final Line-up

Datsun at a glance

Datsun is a Japanese brand owned by Nissan, not a separate company, and it is no longer in production. The key facts, as of October 2026:

Kaishinsha, DAT and the "son of DAT"

Datsun's story starts with Kaishinsha Motor Car Works, founded in Tokyo in 1911 by Masujiro Hashimoto. In 1914 the company built its first car, the DAT. The name is usually explained as the initials of the company's three backers, Den, Aoyama and Takeuchi. Some sources call them founders, but they are better described as backers.

After several renames, Kaishinsha merged with Jitsuyo Jidosha of Osaka in the mid-1920s to form DAT Jidosha Seizo. Britannica dates the merger to 1925 and Wikipedia to 1926.

A rule change in 1930 created the opening for Datsun. Cars with engines of up to 500 cc (30.5 cu in) could now be driven without a licence; the limit rose to 750 cc (45.8 cu in) in 1933. DAT developed a 495 cc car for this class, and the first prototype ran in 1930 or 1931. The small car was called Datson, meaning "son of DAT". About ten Type 10 Datsons were sold.

The spelling soon changed. "Son" sounds like the Japanese word for "loss", so the name became Datsun, with "sun" in its place. The Type 11 of 1932 is regarded as the first car under the Datsun name, and about 150 were sold that year. Sources differ on the year of the change (1932, 1933 or 1934).

Datsun by era: from Yokohama to the world and back

Datsun's history falls into five periods: pre-war beginnings, post-war rebuilding, the export boom, the switch to Nissan and the 2013–2022 revival.

1931–1945: Datson becomes Datsun, and Nissan takes over

Datsun became part of what is now Nissan within a few years of its launch. Yoshisuke Aikawa's Nihon Sangyo group and his Tobata Casting company set up Jidosha Seizo Co., Ltd. on 26 December 1933 to build the Datsun. The firm took the name Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. in 1934, according to Britannica and German Wikipedia (English Wikipedia gives 1949). The cars kept the Datsun name.

A Ford-style assembly line opened in Yokohama in 1935, and the first Yokohama-built Datsuns appeared on 11 April that year. Six early Datsuns are reported to have been shipped to New Zealand in 1936, the brand's first exports. The best pre-war year was 1937, with 8,593 cars built. By 1938 the plant had switched to trucks, and car production stopped until after the war.

1946–1957: rebuilding and the Austin years

Passenger car production restarted in 1947 with the Datsun DA. In the early 1950s Datsun built cars influenced by contemporary Austin designs, and Nissan later assembled Austins under licence in the 1950s. Britannica records that the plants were fully returned to Nissan in 1955.

The same year brought the first Datsun designed entirely in-house: the 110 saloon, together with the 120 pick-up.

1958–1980: Bluebird, 510 and the Z-car export boom

Datsun sales in the United States began in California in 1958, and a dealer network followed in 1959. Nissan Motor Corporation in U.S.A. was chartered on 28 September 1960. Yutaka Katayama, who later championed the 240Z, was president of the US company from 1965 to 1975.

Product followed fast:

• Bluebird. The 310 Bluebird reached the US in 1959; Bluebird sales passed 200,000 in the early 1960s, about half of them exports.
• Fairlady. The Datsun Sports line began with the S211 of 1959 (20 built); the SPL212 of 1960 was the first exported to the US, followed by 1500, 1600 and 2000 versions up to April 1970.
• Sunny. The Sunny, sold abroad as the Datsun 1000, arrived in 1966, the year Nissan merged with Prince Motors.
• 510. The Bluebird 510 of 1967 became, with the later B210 and the compact pick-up, one of Datsun's most popular cars in the US in the 1970s, according to Britannica.
• 240Z. The Fairlady Z, sold as the Datsun 240Z, debuted in October 1969 as a 1970 model.

Britain joined the list in 1968. Datsun sold just over 6,000 cars there in 1971 and more than 30,000 in 1972. Classic Datsuns of this period appear in the 1cars classic car archive, and the parallel stories of two other Japanese makers are told in the histories of Mazda and Mitsubishi.

1981–1986: Datsun becomes Nissan

Nissan announced in autumn 1981 that its cars would carry the Nissan name worldwide, giving one global brand for all markets. Cars wore "Nissan-Datsun" badges from 1982, and in Britain the Datsun-badged Micra of June 1983 was the last new Datsun.

The old name disappeared from Europe and North America in 1984 and from Asian markets by March 1986, though sources differ by a year or two; some export markets used both badges until then. The switch was an expensive, years-long exercise: in North America alone, signs at about 1,100 dealerships had to be replaced.

2012–2022: the low-cost revival and the second ending

Nissan announced the return of Datsun on 20 March 2012, 31 years after the 1981 decision, as a low-cost brand for emerging markets. The relaunch came on 15 July 2013 in New Delhi, where the Datsun Go hatchback was unveiled; Indian sales began in early 2014.

The Go used Nissan's V platform, shared with the Micra (K13), and a 1.2-litre (1,198 cc, 73 cu in) three-cylinder engine of 50 kW (68 PS). It was built in Chennai in India and Purwakarta in Indonesia. The Go+, a 5+2 seat mini-MPV 3,995 mm (157.3 in) long, followed in Indonesia in May 2014 and in India in 2015. India, Indonesia and South Africa were among the first markets in 2014.

The revival grew quickly at first: 100,000 Datsuns had been sold by 29 October 2015 and 200,000 by 2016. Sales then flattened. In November 2019 Nissan said production in Indonesia and at AvtoVAZ would end in 2020. In April 2022 production in India stopped and the brand was discontinued for the second time; English Wikipedia's Nissan article puts the decision down to sluggish sales.

Landmark Datsuns: from Type 11 to 240Z

Ten cars trace Datsun from a licence-free microcar to a global sports car and a budget hatchback.

The 240Z, conceived under Yutaka Katayama and styled by a team led by Yoshihiko Matsuo, combined independent suspension and an overhead-cam six with a price below the European sports cars that had those features. Its 2.4-litre (146 cu in) L24 engine was rated at 113 kW (151 hp SAE gross) for export, and 110 kW (150 PS) under the Japanese JIS standard.

Safari Rally wins and engineering firsts

Datsun's best-known motorsport results came in the East African Safari Rally. Wikipedia's Datsun history records a Safari win in 1966, and the 240Z won the 1973 Safari outright with Shekhar Mehta driving.

Datsun's engineering milestones were practical rather than exotic: the 495 cc Datson engine built for a licence-free class, the Yokohama assembly line of 1935, the 240Z's independent suspension and overhead-cam six, and the Cherry of 1970, the first front-wheel-drive car of the Nissan group. Terms such as OHC and FWD are explained in the car glossary.

Safety was the weak point of the revival. In 2014 Global NCAP tested the Go without airbags or ABS and gave it 0 stars for adult occupants (0.00 of 17 points) and 1 star for children (15.06 of 49). Global NCAP's chairman asked Nissan to withdraw that version from sale in India.

Nissan ownership, factories and the end of production

Datsun has belonged to Nissan and its predecessor companies since the early 1930s; it never had a separate owner. During the revival Nissan was part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

The main factories in each era were:

• Yokohama, Japan: the first Datsun assembly line, from 1935.
• Chennai, India: Go and Go+ production from 2013; India was the last Datsun production base, until April 2022.
• Purwakarta, Indonesia: Go production until 2020.
• AvtoVAZ: the on-Do and mi-Do, built on Lada Granta and Kalina platforms, 2014–2020. The AvtoVAZ background is covered in the Lada history.

No Datsun has been built since production in India ended in April 2022, and none is on sale as of October 2026.

The final Datsun line-up (2013–2022)

The revived brand offered six small, low-cost models. The 1cars Datsun catalogue currently lists two of them.

The Datsun on-Do saloon and the Datsun mi-Do hatchback were built by AvtoVAZ on the Lada Granta and Lada Kalina platforms respectively. The Cross, a crossover-styled version of the Go+, was sold only in Indonesia.

Datsun timeline: 1911 to 2022

Datsun in numbers

Datsun's numbers tell the story of a brand that grew from a few hundred cars to a mass export name:

• About 150: Type 11 cars sold in 1932.
• 8,593: cars built in 1937, the best pre-war year.
• 200,000: Bluebird sales reached in the early 1960s, about half exported.
• Just over 6,000 and more than 30,000: UK sales in 1971 and 1972.
• 100,000 and 200,000: sales of the revived brand by 29 October 2015 and by 2016.