Nissan Builds Austin Cars
under Licence
After World War II American
forces occupying Japan under the direction of General MacArthur, took control of
Japanese government and factories for several years, and
would not allow their car
companies to produce passenger cars, only trucks. They also
dismissed all the various people in higher management and appointed
other Japanese to control factories and Government
departments.
The Nissan factory in Yokohama was bombed in WWII, but in 1946 was
rebuilt by occupation forces, and was obliged to halt production of
the Datsun cars. At first the factory restarted by making trucks,
which were based on a design it had purchased from the Graham-Paige
Company of Detroit sold under the Nissan label. The production of
passenger cars in Japan was forbidden by the occupation
authorities, but these were relaxed in June 1947, and total removed
in October 1949. So they introduced a passenger car called the
Thrith which was based on a prewar design and sold under the Datsun
label.
This car had a
722cc side valve engine
In 1947 Taichi Minoura became president of
Nissan. As Minoura's appointment did not find
favour with the Unions, Due to the unions hold over the workforce
the growth of the company was soon restricted. To help Minoura with
the financial side of the company, the Industrial Bank of Japan was
asked to appoint someone to the Board. The bank sent a 42 year old
banker named Katsuji Kawamata, an ambitious man who knew nothing
about cars. Kawamata quickly learned that to move the company
forward he had to confront the Unions.
The restriction imposed by
the occupying forces was lifted in 1948. Nissan were then able to
develop new models, A difficult task because a large amount of
capital was needed to re-equip the factories with the latest
equipment. They also needed to develop cars that had the latest
trends in styling.
In 1951 the ousted
president, Genshichi Asahara later returned to Nissan, a company
man purged by the Americans. With the support of Kawamata and the
Unions, Asahara became president of Nissan, replacing
Minoura.
Asahara decided that as the company lacked funding, so the way
forward was to build cars under licence. Having looked around the
world for a suitable partner, he approached the Austin Motor
Company.
So why was the Austin Motor Company chosen, well it appears there
were many reasons. First it was an English car that had proved to
be reliable and also suited the Japanese road conditions. In-fact
by March 1952 a total of 1,288 Austin’s had already been imported
in to Japan. They had enjoyed customer satisfaction, with the
engine receiving very favourable comments.
The First CKD
Kits Arrive
Then followed a
series of meetings with a final agreement for the assembly and
manufacture of Austin motor vehicles in Japan signed on 4 December
1952. The agreement forbade the sale of Austins produced by Nissan
outside Japan without the written permission of The Austin Motor
Export Corporation, and was for a term of seven years.
Nissan was to seek from the Ministry of International Trade and
Industry permission to import and pay the necessary sterling for at
least 2,000 cars per year, or the maximum permitted by the Ministry
of International Trade and Industry
The A40
Somerset would be built in Japan using kits of components sent from
Longbridge as Completely Knocked Down (CKD). In the first year of
production no royalties were paid. In the second year royalties
were set at 2% of the car's retail price, with a minimum payment of
£10,000. In the third year this was increased to 31/2% with a
minimum payment of £20,000. Then in year four and subsequent years
5% with a minimum payment of £30,000.
The agreement allowed Nissan to produce their own parts for the
car, but also to use them in their own design of
vehicles.
Body
Drop
The First A40 off the line
One of the last
batch of A40 Somerset's
(The badge reads "The Austin Counties Car Club")
By 1952 the unions were now
starting to show their power again, which resulted in restrictive
practices and reduced production. In 1953 Nissan management decided
to take the union on for the second time by locking out workers.
They also encouraged middle management to form a new single union,
one that would be more sympathetic to the companies aims. After a
strike lasting nearly 100 days the workforce returned under the
banner of a newly formed union.
Nissan Body
Assembly A50
The introduction of the A50
Cambridge came in December 1954, also built from CKD kits. Although
this model was available with the 1200cc and 1500cc engines in the
UK, Nissan decided to only fit the 1500cc engine. By this time
Nissan could phase in their own components. Gradually samples of
components that they wished to source in Japan were sent to
Longbridge for evaluation and testing. Austin then would approved
the various parts, and deleted them from the CKD kits. So
eventually after a few years, the A50 Cambridge became 100%
Japanese.
Cylinder Head
Machine Line
The engine design licensed from Austin had
proved to be a good unit, but they engaged a American engineer
called Donald Stonestood to carry out
improvements.
The next milestone for Nissan was in 1956 when they installed the
transfer machines to produce 'B' series cylinder blocks and heads.
Although based on the Longbridge design they were build and
installed by Hitachi Seiko incorporated various
improvements.
One
of the Last Austin to be made by Nissan-Datsun
The above A50 Cambridge
estate was also produced, although it wasn't that popular, they
still sold 1,045. Total production of all Austin versions over the
seven years came to 21,859.
In 1950 Nissan only produced 865 cars, but ten years after, when
the A50 was been phased out, they produced nearly 66,000. This
figure included their own models which were also powered by their
own version of the ‘B’ series engine.
___________________
One of the people who
went out to Japan was Eric Holbeche who joined the Austin Motor
Company as an Austin Apprentice in 1937 (indentured 1937–42).
During, and after, the war Eric worked as a Planning Engineer at
Longbridge. In the early 1950s he joined a team based in the
Kremlin which worked on the proposed merger of Austin and Nuffield
to form the British Motor Corporation. He then joined a Product
Development team under Frank Griffin, and was assigned the task of
technical liaison with Nissan following an agreement for them to
produce Austin Cars under licence.
Eric went out to Japan in 1953 for a period of four weeks. In those
days the whole trip took six weeks, taking a week each way via BOAC
and Pan-Am Stratocruisers. Travelling half way round the world to
Nissan, and travelling back round the other half of the world,
including stop-offs in Vancouver and Hawaii, provided a travel
experience that few could experience in the 1950s. Whilst there he
was presented with a set of Nissan, Datsun and Austin teaspoons as
a gift for his help in setting up the facilities.
