This is a brief 14 year manufacturing history of the Prince Motor Company and will cover some of the weapons this manufacturer produced: one an aircraft and the second one would become the Nissan Skyline. In 1924 the Ishikawajima Shipyards branched out into aircraft manufacturing. Many car manufacturers in Japan followed this path starting in ship building before … [Read more...]
The Datsun name is coming back
I read a fascinating article recently about Datsun. Many readers over a certain age will remember the name. It was the marque that Nissan used in many countries until someone decided that the parent name was better. The iconic Z series started out as a Datsun and the marque had a great name in racing and rallying until the mid 80s when a corporate boffin dropped the … [Read more...]
Japan’s Kei Cars
When I was writing the post about the tier 2 manufacturers in Japan recently, I learnt about Kei Cars. A "K" in Germany means short as in the famous Porsche 917K racing machine and the Mercedes SLK, a short SL. In Japan a Kei car is a light car, designed to take advantage of Government tax breaks and lower insurance rates. How many times have we seen a company design a … [Read more...]
Japan’s Tier 2 Car Manufacturers
I read an interesting article the other day that describes "tier 2" manufacturers in Japan and the fact that they are profitable whereas larger manufacturers in Europe and even smaller divisions of the Big 3 are struggling. Many readers will know that Australia has seen its car manufacturing start to reach its end with plants from Ford, Holden and Toyota scheduled to … [Read more...]