Nissan has made a name for itself as a company focused on fuel efficiency and reliability, but here are 7 Things You Don’t Know About: Nissan.

1. Nissan Motors was founded in 1934, it traces its history back to the Kwaishinsha Motorcar Works which was established in 1911.

2. At one point during World War II, the Nissan company’s main manufacturing plant was moved to China making use of land that had been captured by Japan.

3. Nissan and Ford partnered in 1993 to manufacture consumer-friendly minivans. The Mercury Villager and the Nissan Quest were virtually identical automobiles and were manufactured with mostly the same parts.

4. Nissan has had a few non-automobile business interests as well including boat motor manufacturing and cell phone service.

5. The D-A-T portion of the Datsun moniker is an acronym of the last names of the founding company families.

6. One of the early chief designers for the DAT and Nissan companies was an American, William R. Gorham.

7. The decision to drop the name Datsun for use in the United States and go with the global company name of Nissan was made in late 1981.

Nissan has made a great name for itself in the automobile industry. The company has proven itself year in and year out to be a maker of quality cars and will go on to be one of the more successful auto makers in the world.