Even with the French maker is 36.8% investment, the debt is still too much. Now headed by Renault is second man, Carlos Ghosn, a revival plan has been announced. The plan involves the reduction of platforms by half, hence inevitably reducing sales by 30% to 1.65 million cars per year. The company will also cut the workforce by 21,000. 

Whether it will be revived is still uncertain. It depends on how well its new products and how well they integrate with Renault s models. The first platform sharing will be seen in the next Micra (March) / Cube and Renault Twingo / Clio, in around 2002. By then we shall know the result. 

Cefiro

Main overseas plants : 
Smyrna, Tennessee, USA : Sentra, Altima 
Mexico : Sunny 
Sunderland, UK : Micra, Primera 
Barcelona, Spain : Safari, Serena, Terrano II 

US R&D : Farmington Hills, Michigan 
European R&D and studio : 
UK : Cranfield (R&D and styling tweaks) 
Belgium : Brussels (R&D and styling) 
Germany : Geretsried (styling)

Jitsuyo Jidosha Co., Ltd., another predecessor of Nissan, was established in Osaka in 1919 to manufacture three-wheeler designed by American engineer. The company imported machine tools, components and materials from the U.S., and thus was said to be one of the most modern automobile factories. Kwaishinsha Co. and Jitsuyo Jidohsa Co. merged in 1926 to form Dat Jidosha Seizo Co., which, in 1931, became affiliated with Tobata Casting.  

Jidosha-Seizo Kabushiki-Kaisha ("Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd." in English) was established on 1933, taking over all the operations for manufacturing Datsuns from the automobile division of Tobata Casting, and its company name was changed to Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. on 1934. The compnay had grand plans to mass-produce 10,000 - 15,000 units per year. 

The first small-size Datsun passenger car rolled off the assembly line at Yokohama Plant in 1935. During the war, Nissan manufactured military trucks and military engines for plane and boats.  

Although the Yokohama Plant had escaped damage during the air raids, over one-half of the plant was requisitioned by the Occupation Forces for approximately ten years after the war. Nissan was also handicapped in the early postwar period by the fact that many leading auto dealerships, previously affiliated with the old Nissan network, switched to the rising Toyota. 

Nissan resumed production of trucks in 1945 and Datsun passenger cars in 1947. In a move to recover from the technological vacuum of the wartime years, Nissan concluded a technical tie-up with British car maker Austin in 1952, and produced Austin s cars. Nissan rebuilt itself simultaneously. The Bluebird and Cedric were launched in 59 and 60 respectively. The Sunny of 1966 drove the growth of the domestic small car market. That year, the merge with Prince Motor added the Skyline and Gloria name to its collection. 

In 1969, Nissan posted another milestone - the 240Z coupe dominated the US market with its handsome look and good performance. It started the Japanese coupe era and eventually killed the once world-dominating British sports car industry. 

Like Honda, the energy crisis in 1973 helped increasing export of the Sunny to the US. Then protectionism drove Nissan to established factory there in 1980. 4 years later, a plant in UK was built to produce the Bluebird for the European market. 

In the 90s, domestic recession hit Nissan hard. Although the Sunderland (UK) plant was named as the most efficient plants in Europe, the conservative product line-up and overlapping models resulted in heavy loss. In 1999, 36.8% equity of Nissan cars and 22.5% of Nissan Diesel were acquired by Renault. The independence ended here.