Nissan executives saw the prototype as a halo car that would improve their company’s image in the minds of consumers. By 1964 Nissan realized that Yamaha’s DOHC 2.0-liter engine was not meeting Nissan’s expectations and the project was scrapped. Yamaha later finished a prototype and took their design to Toyota, resulting in the Toyota 2000GT. Yutaka Katayama, the president of Nissan USA at the time, realized the importance of an affordable sports car. Nissan had already produced the successful series of Fairlady roadsters that competed mainly with English and Italian roadsters, and product planners envisioned a new line of GT cars that would be stylish, innovative, fast, and relatively inexpensive through the use of interchangeable parts with other Nissan vehicles. Prototype work began in 1966 with a clay mockup.

Nissan executives saw the prototype as a halo car that would improve their company’s image in the minds of consumers. By 1964 Nissan realized that Yamaha’s DOHC 2.0-liter engine was not meeting Nissan’s expectations and the project was scrapped. Yamaha later finished a prototype and took their design to Toyota, resulting in the Toyota 2000GT. Yutaka Katayama, the president of Nissan USA at the time.

By 1964 Nissan realized that Yamaha’s DOHC 2.0-liter engine was not meeting Nissan’s expectations and the project was scrapped. Yamaha later finished a prototype and took their design to Toyota, resulting in the Toyota 2000GT. Yutaka Katayama, the president of Nissan USA at the time, realized the importance of an affordable sports car. Nissan had already produced the successful series of Fairlady roadsters that competed mainly with English and Italian roadsters, and product planners envisioned a new line of GT cars that would be stylish, innovative, fast, and relatively inexpensive through the use of interchangeable parts with other Nissan vehicles. Prototype work began in 1966 with a clay mockup.

The original Z was sold in October 1969 in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z and was exported as the Datsun 240Z. Since 2009 Nissan has manufactured the newest Z, the 370Z. Enthusiasts praise the cars for their looks, reliability, performance, and affordability. Nissan Z cars currently hold the record for best selling sports car series of all time with around 1,685,000 in five generations.

One for the Japanese market and one for the US market. The Japanese Fairlady Z featured a SOHC L20A inline-6 producing 130 PS (96 kW), while the US 240Z featured a 2.4L L24 inline-6 with twin SU carburetors that produced 151 hp (113 kW). A third Z, the 432Z(PS30) shared a performance version of the DOHC 2.0 L S20 engine with the Nissan Skyline.

In Japan, the Z car was still known as the Fairlady to keep the car in line with previous Nissan sports cars. However, Yutaka Katayama ensured the American version had all Nissan badging replaced with “Datsun” and prevented all dealer shipments until they were replaced.

The original Z was sold in October 1969 in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z and was exported as the Datsun 240Z. Since 2009 Nissan has manufactured the newest Z, the 370Z. Enthusiasts praise the cars for their looks, reliability, performance, and affordability. Nissan Z cars currently hold the record for best selling sports car series of all time with around 1,685,000 in five generations. Every Z car has been sold in Japan as the Fairlady Z and elsewhere under the names 240Z, 260Z, 280Z, 280ZX, 300ZX, 350Z and 370Z.

The 240Z was released in America on October 22, 1969. Combining good looks, powerful performance, and luxury features, it sold over 45,000 units through the 71 model year and over 50,000 and 40,000 in 1972 and 1973, respectively.

The 260Z was released in 1974 and featured an increased engine displacement of 2.6 L and an available 2+2 model. Despite the engine size increase, power decreased to 139 hp (104 kW) in most areas of the US due to new camshafts, carburetors, and lower compression that were introduced to comply with new emissions regulations. In other export regions the power was increased to 154 PS (113 kW).

The 280Z was released in 1975 in North America (not to be confused with the 280ZX, which is a second-generation Z-car) and featured another engine displacement enlargement to 2.8 L. A major change was the introduction of Bosch fuel injection, replacing the previous SU carburetors. This resulted in a power increase to 170 hp (127 kW), offsetting increased weight from added luxury features and an enlarged bumper that met US Federal regulations. Export markets outside North America continued to receive the Datsun 260Z until the introduction of the Datsun 280ZX at the end of 1978.

Nissan executives saw the prototype as a halo car that would improve their company’s image in the minds of consumers. By 1964 Nissan realized that Yamaha’s DOHC 2.0-liter engine was not meeting Nissan’s expectations and the project was scrapped. Yamaha later finished a prototype and took their design to Toyota, resulting in the Toyota 2000GT. Yutaka Katayama, the president of Nissan USA at the time, realized the importance of an affordable sports car. Nissan had already produced the successful series of Fairlady roadsters that competed mainly with English and Italian roadsters, and product planners envisioned a new line of GT cars that would be stylish, innovative, fast, and relatively inexpensive through the use of interchangeable parts with other Nissan vehicles. Prototype work began in 1966 with a clay mockup.

DAT had inherited Kubota’s chief designer who was an American, William R. Gorham. This, along with Aikawa’s vision-inspiring 1908 visit to Detroit was to greatly affect Nissan’s future.

Although it had always been Aikawa’s intention to use the latest cutting-edge automaking technology from America, it was Gorham that carried out this plan. All the machinery, vehicle designs and engine designs originally came out of the United States. Much of the tooling came from the Graham factory and Nissan had a Graham license under which trucks were made. The machinery was imported into Japan by Mitsubishi[9] on behalf of Nissan, which went into the first Yokohama factory to produce cars.

In 1928, Yoshisuke Aikawa founded the holding company Nippon Sangyo (Japan Industries or Nippon Industries). “The name ‘Nissan’ originated during the 1930s as an abbreviation”[4] used on the Tokyo stock market for Nippon Sangyo. This company was the famous Nissan “Zaibatsu” (combine) 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.

Nissan would eventually grow to include 74 firms, and to be the fourth-largest combine in Japan during World War II.

In 1931, Aikawa purchased controlling(?) shares in DAT Motors, and then in 1933 it merged Tobata Casting’s automobile parts department with DAT Motors. As Tobata Casting was a Nissan company, this was the beginning of Nissan’s automobile manufacturing.

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