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Article: Japan sells its first cars in the United States.(Great Moments In World Trade)
- Article from:
- World Trade
- Article date:
- July 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 BNP Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Masujiro Hashimoto returned to Tokyo in 1911 from government-sponsored study in the United States inspired by the bustle and commotion of Broadway to build the first commercially-viable Japanese automobile. Three years later his company introduced its first car, the 10-horsepower DAT, an acronym formed from the surnames of its initial investors: Den, Aoyama, and Takeuchi.
By the 1930s, the firm, now known as Nissan, released their first true mass-produced vehicle. They dubbed the car the Datson, literally the "son of DAT." When critics pointed out that the name unintentionally mirrored the Japanese phrase "to lose money," the last syllable was changed to "sun." ...