Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., today announced it reached a new milestone in June with the production of its 100 millionth vehicle. Since its establishment in 1933, Nissan has produced about 76,640,000 vehicles in Japan and about 23,500,000 vehicles overseas. As of the end of June, Nissan’s total global production stood at about 100,140,000 vehicles.

“On behalf of Nissan, I would like to thank all our employees and customers around the world for their support without whom this important milestone would not have been possible,” said Tadao Takahashi, executive vice president of manufacturing at Nissan. “We will continue to improve quality and productivity as well as shorten delivery times for customers, utilising the Nissan Production Way, in order to realise our next 100 millionth milestone.”

Nissan was established in December 1933 under the name “Jidosha-Seizo Co., Ltd.” (Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) after taking over operations for manufacturing small-size Datsun passenger cars from Tobata Casting Co., Ltd. The first car produced by Nissan under the Jidosha-Seizo name was a Datsun Type 12. The company name was changed to “Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.” the following year.

In 1935, Nissan began operations at its Yokohama Plant, the first plant in Japan to mass-produce automobiles, and went on to play a pioneering role in Japan’s early automobile industry.

Production capacity in Japan grew further with the start of vehicle assembly at the Oppama Plant in 1962, the Zama Plant in 1965, the Murayama Plant in 1966 (after the company merged with Prince Motor Co., Ltd., a major Japanese automaker, that same year), the Tochigi Plant in 1971, and the Kyushu Plant in 1976.

Nissan’s first began producing vehicles overseas in 1959 in Taiwan. In 1966, the company began production in Mexico, followed by production in the US and Spain in 1983, the UK in 1986 and China in 1995.

The company’s manufacturing plants, including the Sunderland plant in the UK, the Smyrna plant in Tennessee, USA, and the Canton plant in Mississippi, USA, are today among the most efficient vehicle assembly plants in the world. Nissan led the North American auto industry in manufacturing efficiency in the 2006 Harbour Report, with an overall measurement of 28.46 labour hours per vehicle.

The following are Nissan’s major global production major milestones:

1942 - 100,000 vehicles
1962 - 1,000,000 vehicles
1969 - 5,000,000 vehicles
1972 - 10,000,000 vehicles
1988 - 50,000,000 vehicles
1992 - 60,000,000 vehicles
1995 - 70,000,000 vehicles
1999 - 80,000,000 vehicles
2003 - 90,000,000 vehicles
2006 - 100,000,000 vehicles

1962 Nissan Patrol (US version)

Nissan In Australia

Nissan is one of Australia's biggest-selling full-line Japanese importers with a history dating back to 1934 when Datsun Phaetons were sold locally.

It was legendary Australian automotive industry figure Sir Lawrence Hartnett who initially secured distribution rights for Datsun vehicles in this country after being so enthused by the Datsun 1200 model which was shown at the 1960 Melbourne Motor Show.

Nissan itself subsequently reached agreement with the Hartnett Organisation and commenced local CKD manufacture of Bluebird models in 1966 at the Pressed Metal Corporation plant in Sydney.

The famous Datsun 1600 SSS - which went on to ignite countless rally careers - was launched in 1967 and propelled Nissan to spectacular sales success. Local production topped 20,000 vehicles for the year and Nissan was the seventh-biggest name in the Australian market.

Nissan entered local manufacture in 1972 with the installation of a highly automated engine plant and vehicle assembly line at Clayton in Victoria and the opening of a new Australian headquarters in nearby Dandenong.

In 1977, Nissan's local production topped 127,754 vehicles.

By 1984 Nissan had gained a reputation as a sports car company with the turbocharged 300ZX selling in large numbers, supported by the Gazelle, EXA and Pulsar turbo models.

A change came in 1986 with the launch of two locally produced sedan models - the six cylinder Skyline and four cylinder Pintara. The stylish new Navara ute - designed by Nissan Design International in San Diego was challenging the light commercial segment. Nissan's all-new Patrol 4WD line-up collected numerous awards as well as sales in large numbers.

Local manufacturing ceased in 1992 and Nissan replaced the Skyline with the all-new Maxima model - a stylish, contemporary V6 sedan.