NISSAN Models — Full Catalog & VIN Decoder
Browse every NISSAN model and decode any NISSAN VIN. The catalog below lists 44 models in our database.
Browse every NISSAN model and decode any NISSAN VIN. The catalog below lists 44 models in our database.
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan and Infiniti brands, and formerly the Datsun brand, with in-house performance tuning products under the Nismo and Autech brands. The company can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century with the Nissan zaibatsu, or Nissan Group.
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan and Infiniti brands, and formerly the Datsun brand, with in-house performance tuning products (including cars) under the Nismo and Autech brands. The company can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century with the Nissan zaibatsu, or Nissan Group. Since 1999, Nissan has been part of the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance (with Mitsubishi joining in 2016), a partnership between Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors of Japan, with Renault of France. As of November 2023, Renault holds a 15% voting stake in Nissan, while Nissan holds the same stake in Renault. Since October 2016, Nissan held a 34% controlling stake in Mitsubishi Motors. In November 2024, Nissan reduced its stake in Mitsubishi Motors from 34% to 24%. In 2017, Nissan was the sixth largest automaker in the world, after Toyota, Volkswagen Group, Hyundai Motor Group, General Motors, and Ford. With a revenue of $78 billion in 2022, Nissan was the ninth largest automobile maker in the world. After making a ¥671 billion loss in the 2024/2025 financial year, new CEO Ivan Espinosa announced that Nissan will by 2027 close seven factories with the loss of 20,000 jobs, and reduce car models from 56 to 45 to focus investment on more profitable models.
Masujiro Hashimoto (橋本増治郎) founded the Kwaishinsha (Kaishinsha) Motor Car Works (快進社自働車工場, Kwaishinsha jidōsha kōjō; A Good Company Automobile Manufacturer) on 1 July 1911 in Azabu-Hiroo district of Tokyo. In 1914, the company produced its first car, called the DAT. The new car's model name was an acronym of the company's investors' surnames:
Kenjiro Den (Den Kenjirō) Rokuro Aoyama (Aoyama Rokurō) Meitaro Takeuchi (Takeuchi Meitarō) It was renamed to Kaishinsha Motorcar Co., Ltd. in 1918, and again to DAT Jidosha & Co., Ltd. (DAT Motorcar Co.) in 1925. DAT Motors built trucks in addition to the DAT and Datsun passenger cars. The vast majority of its output were trucks, due to an almost non-existent consumer market for passenger cars at the time, and disaster recovery efforts as a result of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Beginning in 1918, the first DAT trucks were produced for the military market. At the same time, Jitsuyo Jidosha Co., Ltd. (jitsuyo means practical use or utility) produced small trucks using parts, and materials imported from the United States.
Commercial operations were placed on hold during Japan's participation in World War I, and the company contributed to the war effort. In 1926, the Tokyo-based DAT Motors merged with the Osaka-based Jitsuyo Jidosha Co., Ltd (Jitsuyō Jidōsha Seizō Kabushiki-Gaisha) a.k.a. Jitsuyo Jidosha Seizo (established 1919 as a Kubota subsidiary) to become DAT Jidosha Seizo Co., Ltd Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (ダット自動車製造株式会社, DAT Jidōsha Seizō Kabushiki-Gaisha) in Osaka until 1932. From 1923 to 1925, the company produced light cars and trucks under the name of Lila. In 1929, DAT Automobile Manufacturing Inc. merged with a separated part of the manufacturing business of IHI Corporation to become Automobile Industries Co., Ltd. In 1931, DAT came out with a new smaller car, called the Datsun Type 11, the first "Datson", meaning "Son of DAT". Later in 1933, after Nissan Group zaibatsu took control of DAT Motors, the last syllable of Datson was changed to "sun", because "son" also means "loss" in Japanese, hence the name "Datsun" (ダットサン, Dattosan). In 1933, the company name was Nipponized to Jidosha-Seizo Co., Ltd. (Jidōsha Seizō Kabushiki-Gaisha; "Automobile Manufacturing Share Company") and was moved to Yokohama.
Nissan name debut In 1928, Yoshisuke Aikawa (nickname: Gisuke/Guisuke Ayukawa) founded the holding company Nihon Sangyo (日本産業 Japan Industries or Nihon Industries). The name 'Nissan' originated during the 1930s as an abbreviation used on the Tokyo Stock Exchange for Nihon Sangyo. This company was Nissan "Zaibatsu" which included Tobata Casting and Hitachi. At this time Nissan controlled foundries and auto parts businesses, but Aikawa did not enter automobile manufacturing until 1933. The zaibatsu eventually grew to include 74 firms and became the fourth-largest in Japan during World War II. In 1931, DAT Jidosha Seizo became affiliated with Tobata Casting and was merged into Tobata Casting in 1933. As Tobata Casting was a Nissan company, this was the beginning of Nissan's automobile manufacturing.
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA