Nissan Motors was founded in 1932 by Kenjiro Den, Rokuro Aoyama, Meitaro Takeuchi and Yoshisuke Aikawa. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The current president, CEO and co-chair is Carlos Ghosn. Nissan employs over 185,000 people and the company’s revenue reached $88 billion in 2007. 44.4% of Nissan is owned by Renault S.A. of France as of the 2008 calendar year but have been in an alliance together since 1999. Nissan formerly manufactured vehicles under the name of Datsun. Nissan is the third largest vehicle manufacturer in Japan and also manufactures Infiniti luxury vehicles.
Datsun was first established as a vehicle manufacturer in 1914 and the Nissan brand name wasn’t used on vehicles until the 1930s. Since the company’s inception there have been more than a handful of presidents and CEOs of the company:
o1933-1939 Yoshisuke Aikawao1939-1942 Masasuke Murakamio1942-1944 Genshichi Asaharao1944-1945 Haruto Kudoo1945 Takeshi Murayamao1945-1947 Souji Yamamotoo1947-1951 Taichi Minourao1951-1957 Genshichi Asaharao1957-1973 Katsuji Kawamatao1973-1977 Tadahiro Iwakoshio1977-1985 Takashi Ishiharao1985-1992 Yutaka Kumeo1992-1996 Yoshifume Tsujio1996-2000 Yoshikazu Hanawao2000-present Carlos Ghosn
The presidents and CEOs of Nissan have helped develop the company into one of the top vehicle manufacturing companies in the world and they continue that tradition today. Nissan manufactures and distributes sports cars, compact cars and heavy duty pickup trucks across the world.
Per Nissan’s website, the company has tons of manufacturing plants across the globe. They are located in:
oJapan-Oppama, Yokosuka, Kanagawa (Oppama Plant & Research Center)-Kaminokawa, Tochigi (Tochigi Plant)-Kanda, Fukuoka (Kyushu Plant)-Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa (Yokohama Plant)-Iwaki, Fukushima (Iwaki Plant)-Hiratsuka, Kanagawa (Nissan Shatai Shonan Plant)-Nagoya, Aichi (Aichi Machine Industry Atsuta & Eitoku Plants)-Matsusaka, Mie (Aichi Machine Industry Matsusaka Plant)-Tsu, Mie (Aichi Machine Industry Tsu Plant)-Uji, Kyoto (Auto Works Kyoto)-Ageo, Saitama (Nissan Diesel Motor, currently owned by the Volvo Group)-Samukawa, Kanagawa (Nissan Kohki)-Zama, Kanagawa (Zama Plant closed in 1995, currently Global Production Engineering Center and storage unit for its historic models)
oBrazil-São José dos Pinhais, Paraná
oIndonesia-Cikampek, West Java
oIran -Karaj, Tehran
oMalaysia-Segambut, Kuala Lumpur-Serendah, Selangor
oMexico -Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes-Cuernavaca, CIVAC
oPhilippines -Santa Rosa City, Laguna
oSouth Africa -Rosslyn
oSpain -Barcelona-Ávila
oThailand-Bangna, Samutprakarn
oTaiwan -Taipei
oUnited Kingdom -Sunderland, North East
oUnited States -Smyrna, Tennessee-Canton, Mississippi-Decherd, Tennessee
Nissan Motors plans to begin selling electric cars in the year 2012 and has been trying to develop Hybrid cars and Hybrid motor parts for the past couple of years. Nissan feels that the development of their own electric car and the growing popularity for alternatively propelled cars will make their endeavor a success. The idea for the company to produce an electric car came from current company president and CEO Carlos Ghosn.