NISSAN REACHES 100 MILLIONTH PRODUCTION MILESTONE
TOKYO (24 July, 2006) – Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, today announced it reached a new milestone in June with the production of its 100 millionth vehicle. Since its establishment in 1933, Nissan has produced about 76,640,000 vehicles in Japan and about 23,500,000 vehicles overseas. As of the end of June, Nissan’s total global production stood at about 100,140,000 vehicles.
“On behalf of Nissan, I would like to thank all our employees and customers around the world for their support without whom this important milestone would not have been possible,” said Tadao Takahashi, executive vice president of manufacturing at Nissan. “We will continue to improve quality and productivity as well as shorten delivery times for customers, utilising the Nissan Production Way, in order to realise our next 100 millionth milestone.”
Nissan was established in December 1933 under the name “Jidosha-Seizo Co., Ltd” (Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd) after taking over operations for manufacturing small-size Datsun passenger cars from Tobata Casting Co., Ltd. The first car produced by Nissan under the Jidosha-Seizo name was a Datsun Type 12. The company name was changed to “Nissan Motor Co., Ltd” the following year.
In 1935, Nissan began operations at its Yokohama Plant, the first plant in Japan to mass-produce automobiles, and went on to play a pioneering role in Japan’s early automobile industry.
Production capacity in Japan grew further with the start of vehicle assembly at the Oppama Plant in 1962, the Zama Plant in 1965, the Murayama Plant in 1966 (after the company merged with Prince Motor Co., Ltd, a major Japanese automaker, that same year), the Tochigi Plant in 1971, and the Kyushu Plant in 1976.
Nissan first began producing vehicles overseas in 1959 in Taiwan. In 1966, the company began production in Mexico, followed by production in the US and Spain in 1983, the UK in 1986 and China in 1995.
The company’s manufacturing plants, including the Sunderland plant in the UK, the Smyrna plant in Tenn., US, and the Canton plant in Miss., US, are today among the most efficient vehicle assembly plants in the world. Nissan led the North American auto industry in manufacturing efficiency in the 2006 Harbour Report, with an overall measurement of 28.46 labour hours per vehicle.
The following are Nissan’s major global production milestones:
1942 |
100,000 vehicles |
1962 |
1,000,000 vehicles |
1969 |
5,000,000 vehicles |
1972 |
10,000,000 vehicles |
1988 |
50,000,000 vehicles |
1992 |
60,000,000 vehicles |
1995 |
70,000,000 vehicles |
1999 |
80,000,000 vehicles |
2003 |
90,000,000 vehicles |
2006 |
100,000,000 vehicles |
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Wayne Bruce Communications Director 01923 899930
email: wayne.bruce@nissan.co.uk
All news releases and pictures can be downloaded from the Newspress website at www.newspress.co.uk
50868/240706