Used Nissan Cars for Sale

Nissan is well known for producing quality cars and pushing technology with its concepts and electric cars. Today, in its alliance with Renault, it is one of the largest car manufacturers in the world. It's perhaps best known for its family SUVs in the shape of the Nissan Qashqai and Nissan Juke. It also has one of the most popular electric cars on the market - the Nissan Leaf. You can read more Nissan reviews here.

Nissan's history starts in the 1930 when the Nissan name was first used as an abbreviation of the holding company Nippon Sangyo, founded by Yoshisuke Aikawa. It controlled foundries and auto-parts businesses but initially did not manufacture cars themselves. Aikawa purchased the controlling interest in DAT motors in 1930, merging it with another subsidiary he owned, Tobata Casting’s auto department, in 1933. The expansion of these two merged departments founded Nissan Motors in 1934.

In 1952 Nissan entered into an agreement with Austin, producing and marketing Austin cars for seven years, manufacturing over 20,000 vehicles. It used technology developed during this period to refine their own line of Datsun cars.

In 1966 Nissan merged with the Prince Motor Company which produced a number of premium vehicles, the most famous of which were the Skyline and Gloria. Nissan cars were a major force behind the rapid growth of the small car market in Japan in the 1960s. Two energy crises in the 1970s brought them to the attention of the world, rapidly increasing exports because of their amazing fuel economy.

In more recent years Nissan has formed alliances. First with Ford, then in 1999, due to financial difficulties, it formed an alliance with Renault. Renault owns 43.4% of Nissan shares, while Nissan owns 15% of Renault.