Nissan is about to throw a big birthday party for itself as it readies itself for its 90th birthday. In the coming months, the carmaker will roll out a series of initiatives to celebrate its heritage and DNA. This includes 23 stories about how Nissan “dares to do what others don’t” called, fittingly, the Daring 23.
As most Nissan enthusiasts know, the number 23 isn’t just a random integer pulled out of thin air. It doesn’t even have anything to do with the year 2023, though the timing is serendipitous. In Japanese “two” is pronounced ni and “three” is pronounced san. Put them together and you have Nissan. It’s why so many of their famous race cars have had 23 as their racing number.
The official date arrives on December 26, 2023 and it promises to be an exciting countdown. But man, time sure flies. It seems like only yesterday when we celebrated Nissan’s 80th birthday.
Being a bit idiotic to ask, but when exactly did Nissan start? Datsun / DAT had roots going as far back as 1910’s. Nissan group who bought over DAT was founded in 1920’s. In my fathers readers digest collection there was an old leaflet for the Olympics I think and it tells the story of the first Japanese motor car called Takuri (Gatakuri) and its roots to DAT, Nissan and Manchurian effects. Must find the article.
They’re going by the company that eventually became Nissan, but yeah, there were so many iterations you could make a case that it’s already 100 years old.
It looks like how Mercedes-Benz goes about their business. Not much emphasis given about Carl Benz (only for the first patented car). Did a Brand history tour when I was working for MB dealership locally. All we were shown were where Daimler was born, where his first workshop was, where he lived but nothing about Benz. Same way Nissan was very proud of DAT/Datsun as a brand but celebrate only the forming of the Nissan Motor Car Company. I think its time someone did a historical account of the Japanese car industry and its roots and where they are.
Smells like hinoki, sugi and yuzu to me.
Nice callback! 😆