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Fun Fact for Kirkland: Nissan and the Austin Partnership
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(Posted on Feb 18, 2019 at 06:54AM by Billy Kirk)

Did you know that Nissan used to produce automobiles for other brands? Itâ€™s true!

Back in 1934 when Nissan was still known as â€œDatsun,â€ the automaker began to build the Austin 7 under license with the Austin Motor Company. This early partnership would represent the greatest overseas licensing success of Austinâ€™s 7 and was the beginning of Datsunâ€™s international renown.

Later, in 1952, Nissan would enter into a separate legal agreement with Austin to assemble 2,000 of their machines from imported partially assembled sets for sale in Japan under the Austin branding. The partnership required Nissan to make all the necessary parts locally in three years; the company met that obligation easily. All told, Nissan produced Austins for seven years, during which time they had the rights to Austin patents. It was these patents that would bolster the development of the Datsun line of cars.

Although Austin itself still built their own cars for some time, by 1955, the Austin A50 was entirely manufactured by Nissan and marketed by the company in Japan with a 1489 engine. In total, Nissan would make 20,855 Austins from 1953 to 1959.

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