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Four Fun Facts About Nissan
By Product Expert | Posted in Fun Stuff, Nissan News on Friday, May 27th, 2016 at 12:03 pm
For all the work we put in discussing the exciting future of Nissan, we regretfully overlook much of what has gotten us here. Nissan actually has a pretty illustrious history, full of terrific milestones and noteworthy achievements. Don’t believe us? Then buckle up, friends, because we’re coming hot with this list of four fun facts about Nissan that you probably didn’t know.
Four Fun Facts about Nissan
Nissan is Over 100 Years Old
Most of us are aware that Nissan has its roots in the Datsun corporation, which was the automotive offspring of the DAT. The DAT was a Japanese car company founded in 1914, and took its name as an acronym from its three creators: Kenjiro Den, Rokuro Aoyama and Meitaro Takeuchi. When they expanded into making larger cars, they named the new company Datsun, which literally meant, “Son of DAT.”
Nissan was the First to Use Women to Sell Cars
If you go to a car show today, you’ll see beautiful women standing next to the shiny models. But where did this practice come from? In 1936, Nissan hired four women to act as brand ambassadors for their vehicles. The practice continues to this day, and they’re known as the “Miss Fair Lady” team. And this name isn’t limited just to the team of women: the Nissan Z that we know so well is known as the “Fairlady” in Japan.
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Nissan Once Made a Car with a Hidden Umbrella in it
If you bring up the Nissan Pulsar GTi-R, you’ll definitely be met with a few raised eyebrows. It was a weird car: it was a 227-hp hatchback built for rally racing. But perhaps its most interesting feature was the built-in, full-size umbrella that slid neatly into the driver-side doorframe. Perhaps the only other car with this feature is the Rolls Royce Phantom.
Nissan Used to Build Rocket Engines
Many automakers stretch into areas that aren’t necessarily car-related, such as robotics or aircraft. Nissan did its competitors one better, however, when it built the rocket engines for the Lambda 4S-5 in 1970. Nissan continued building rocket engines for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency until 2000, and the engine launched in 1970 burned up in the atmosphere in 2003.
See? There’s much more to Nissan than meets the eye, which is half the fun of working with such a thriving manufacturer. To learn more about how awesome Nissan can be, come visit us at Avondale Nissan today!
