Above: Used Nissan in Worcester

Masujiro Hashimoto founded the Kwaishinsha Motorcar Works in 1911. In 1914, the company produced its first car, called DAT.

The new car's name was an acronym of the company's investors' family names, which is the derivation of the company's original name, "Datsun".

DAT Motors built trucks in addition to the DAT and Datsun passenger cars. But the vast majority of its vehicles were trucks, since at the time there was almost no consumer market for passenger cars in Japan.

In 1935, construction of its Yokohama plant was completed. A grand total of 44 Datsuns were shipped to Asiaand South America only. In 1935, the first car manufactured by an integrated assembly system rolled off the line at the Yokohama plant.

In the Late 1930s Nissan built trucks, airplanes, and engines for the Japanese military.

Nissans were first sold in Worcester Area in 1960. At first, the only available vehicles were very modest trucks.

In 1967, Nissan introduced its new highly advanced four cylinder overhead cam engine, the Nissan "L" series. While similar to Mercedes-Benz engines, it was a totally new engine designed by Nissan. This engine powered the new Datsun 510 sedan, which gained Nissan respect in the worldwide sedan market. Then, in 1969 Nissan introduced the Datsun 240Z sports car which used a six-cylinder variation of the L series engine. The 240Z was an immediate sensation and lifted Nissan to world class status in the automobile market.

The big break for Nissan came in 1973. In September of that year, Nissan introduced the Datsun B210, which got 35 miles to the gallon on the highway, which was unheard of in the age of big, gas-guzzling American cars.

One month after the B210 debuted in Worcester, Massachusetts and the rest of America- the "Arab Oil Embargo" hit, and gas prices in the US tripled almost overnight.

Suddenly the Datsun cars were so sought-after that the factory in Japan that made the B210 was unable to keep up with the demand. This despite that fact that it was running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in an effort to keep up. In fact, it would be four years before the supply was able to keep up with the demand, by which time Datsun had become a household name.

Nissan now has two large auto manufactuing plants in the US, in Smyrna, TN and in Canton MS.

Today, in the Worcester Area, Nissan has over an 8% market share, roughly double the market share from ten years ago.

The 21st Century has been kind to Nissan indeed.

Current used Nissan models available in the Worcester Area include:

(Click HERE to View Inventory.)