It’s great news, isn’t it? Seeing a relic coming back to life isn’t something we expect in these days of perpetual recession and capital blackouts.
Recently Nissan said Datsun is coming back, I was happy about it.
This the auto mobile company that introduced me to the first club cab, my uncle owned a sky blue. Wait a minute, he still does and it roars like a lion through the grass plains of Borolong and it even survived the liberation riots of Bophutatswana. Datsun is a name that saw two World Wars and everything in between, so you realise that conjecture and legend are naturally infused into the company’s history. Around 1911, Musujiro Hashimoto created Kwaishinsha Motors with the help of three investors and in 1914, he created the DAT model 31, taking the initial of the investors’ surnames - Den, Aoyama and Takeuchi. DAT, roughly translated to Japanese means “hare” or “very fast”.
This the auto mobile company that introduced me to the first club cab, my uncle owned a sky blue. Wait a minute, he still does and it roars like a lion through the grass plains of Borolong and it even survived the liberation riots of Bophutatswana. Datsun is a name that saw two World Wars and everything in between, so you realise that conjecture and legend are naturally infused into the company’s history. Around 1911, Musujiro Hashimoto created Kwaishinsha Motors with the help of three investors and in 1914, he created the DAT model 31, taking the initial of the investors’ surnames - Den, Aoyama and Takeuchi. DAT, roughly translated to Japanese means “hare” or “very fast”.
First sold in 1931 by DAT Motorcar and purchased by Nissan in 1933, Datsun is a brand of cars that was discontinued in 1981 in both Asian and American markets. With some quirky models in its history, Datsun has sort of a cult, hipsterish following. This week Nissan announced that it would be reviving the brand in India, Indonesia, and Russia starting in 2014 and it will be “a green car, affordable car, small displacement, high local content.”
After 21 years off the market, it needed a new logo. The previous Datsun logo is quite iconic and has a vintage charm that is hard to resist. Except for the new people in charge and whoever designed it, because they completely annihilated any semblance to it. Instead, the new logo is the most generic kind of car logo out there. Rendered cheaply and poorly, the only redeeming quality is that underneath all of that chrome is a half-decent wordmark. Too bad it sits in of the strangest holding shapes I’ve seen in a while. Here is to hoping the cars look better.
After 21 years off the market, it needed a new logo. The previous Datsun logo is quite iconic and has a vintage charm that is hard to resist. Except for the new people in charge and whoever designed it, because they completely annihilated any semblance to it. Instead, the new logo is the most generic kind of car logo out there. Rendered cheaply and poorly, the only redeeming quality is that underneath all of that chrome is a half-decent wordmark. Too bad it sits in of the strangest holding shapes I’ve seen in a while. Here is to hoping the cars look better.
Below are image of cars made by Datsun in the past, last but not least is the famous Datsun Laurel. I am certain you have seen one or two of them on the road.
Respect to Japan.
