Nissan
Yoshisuke Aikawa founded Nippon Sangyoin 1928. "The name 'Nissan' originated during the 1930s as an abbreviation" used on the Tokyo stock market for Nippon Sangyo. Nissan ultimately expanded to include a total of 74 firms. They became the fourth-largest company in Japan during World War II. In 1934, Aikawa "separated the expanded automobile parts division of Tobata Casting and incorporated it as a new subsidiary. He named this Nissan Motor Co Ltd.
Nissan built trucks, airplanes, and engines for the Japanese military. The company in China also manufactured machinery for the Japanese war. From 1947 to 1948 the company was called Nissan Heavy Industries Corp.
In 2004, the Nissan Titan was introduced as a full-size pickup truck. It was produced for the North American market. The truck shares the stretched Nissan F-Alpha platform with the Nissan Armada and Infiniti QX56 SUVs. Nissan also produces cars at its factory at Roslyn, near Pretoria, South Africa.
Nissan has produced an extensive range of mainstream cars and trucks, initially for domestic consumption but exported around the world since the 1950s. It also produced several memorable sports cars, including the Datsun Fairlady 1500, 1600 and 2000 Roadsters, the Z-car, an affordable sports car originally introduced in 1969; and the GT-R, a powerful all-wheel-drive sports coupe.