In June of 1968, Nissan Motors granted an exclusive import licence for the UK to a 55-year-old former NSU concessionaire named Octav Botnar. A little over six years later, the UK was the Japanese concern’s most important European sales territory, and their Datsun marque was the country’s most popular foreign brand. Such was their success that Sir Ray Brookes, the then President of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, approached the government for assistance to protect the domestic industry against imported cars.
Japanese cars have been part of the British automotive landscape since 1965 when Dufay Motors began marketing the Daihatsu Compagno. Toyota commenced British operations later that year, while Honda’s cars starred at the 1966 Earls Court Motor Show. Earlier that year, Motor Sport patronisingly referred to Japan’s ‘infant car industry,’ even though in reality it became the world’s second-largest producer of motor vehicles after the USA in 1967. But the Sunday Mirror of 26th August 1968 was somewhat more prescient, saying: ‘It is Nissan-Datsun – who have just started exporting to Britain – that we should be worried about.’
Only 980 Japanese cars found homes in the UK in 1967, at which point there were more British cars in Japan, but Datsun was to transform the motoring landscape. Nissan commenced European sales in 1959 with Norway; by 1961, it was Japan’s leading car exporter. Exports to Finland began in 1962, followed by Belgium in 1964 and the Netherlands in 1966. Botnar established Nissan-Datsun Concessionaires of Shoreham two years later, and in June 1968 imported six cars. His initial line-up comprised a B10-series Sunny 1000
